Staff of Fort England Psychiatric Hospital will bungee jump off the Bloukrans Bridge on World Mental Health Day next month to raise funds for activities and facilities to enrich patients' lives.
Staff of Fort England Psychiatric Hospital will bungee jump off the Bloukrans Bridge on World Mental Health Day next month to raise funds for activities and facilities to enrich patients' lives.
The Bloukrans jump, considered the highest commercial bungee jump in the world, will take place on 10 October to promote mental health education, awareness and advocacy.
Jane Higgins, a clinical psychologist at Fort England and the co-ordinator of the campaign titled 'Above and beyond', said they aim to match or better the R10 000 raised in last year’s initiative.
Last year’s fund-raiser, entitled “Going the Extra Mile”, involved five staff members volunteering to skydive 10 000 feet.
The money raised was used to buy musical instruments for patients and to establish a music therapy group, in the hospital’s male forensic admission ward. It also was used to purchase Christmas presents for the patients.
Although Fort England’s Bloukrans Bungee Jump Fund-Raiser received the green light only last week, there are already six staff members committed to the cause, Higgins said, adding she anticipates an enthusiastic buy-in from staff when the campaign is formally presented to them next week.
Sponsorship forms are available at Fort England hospital.
