For the first time in the 14 year history of MAD Friends, we have decided that we will support two separate charities with a common beneficiary, our overseas and homecoming injured troops.
TROOP AID was founded in November 2006 by three ex servicemen as a result of a visit to Selly Oak Hospital’s Alexandra Wing in Birmingham. This is the home of the Defence Medical Welfare Services who are responsible for the welfare of all Armed Forces Personnel, male and female who have been injured during the conflict in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
When injured troops return to the United Kingdom from the war zones they arrive back without their personal effects or clothing. The objective of TROOP AID is to supply the ‘basic essentials’ when service casualties return from serving their country overseas.
Our GRAB BAGS are currently being sent to the Field Hospital in Afghanistan, Cyprusand the Falkland Islands, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham plus the Ministry of Defence Hospital Units in Plymouth, Portsmouth and Frimley Park Hospital in Camberley.
Items in the GRAB BAG include T-shirt and shorts, washing and shaving kit, towel, face flannel, tooth paste, tooth brush, shower mules, socks, underwear, pen and paper. Female requirements are also provided.
It costs £25.00 to make up one of our GRAB BAGS.
In addition to this emergency pack we also supply on demand to the injured service personnel many other items of clothing and footwear such as tracksuits, hoodies, fleeces and trainers. We deal directly with the Defence Medical Welfare Service and other military medical establishments in the UK where there is a need. We sponsor two rooms for the families of Armed Forces Personnel who are in intensive care.
Troop Aid believe that it is imperative that the troops retain their dignity at a most vulnerable and uncertain time.
QUEEN ELIZABETH HOSPITAL, BIRMINGHAM - MILITARY PATIENTS FUND
The new £545 million Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) Birmingham has brought further improvements to the care of military patients.
The striking steel and glass oval-shaped towers of Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham (QEH) have become an instant landmark and a popular addition to the city’s skyline.
The facility, which opened in 2010, has the largest single-floor critical care unit in the world, with 100 beds.
Armed forces personnel are treated in single rooms or four-bed bays in a 32-bed trauma and orthopaedics ward.
The ward has additional features for the use of service personnel only. These cater for their specific requirements and help to create a military environment.
It has more staff (both military and civilian) than a normal NHS ward, a quiet room for relatives and a communal space for patients to gather.
QEH is the new home of the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine (RCDM), the main receiving unit for all military patients injured overseas, which was previously located atSellyOakHospital.
Group Captain Wendy Williams, head of the RCDM, says the new hospital is a state-of-the-art medical facility for the people of Birmingham as well as military casualties.
“Armed forces personnel injured on operations deserve the very best medical care we can provide,” she says. “The treatment they receive at QEH is first class.
“The creation of a military atmosphere on the ward ensures that our people are cared for in an environment that is conducive to their recovery.”
