A Gateshead nurse is using her love of outdoor sports and adventure to help boost the health and wellbeing of her hospital colleagues.
Extroverted single mum Fior Sayer, from Lobley Hill, loves a good old hike when she's not working at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Even during the pandemic, she kept up her regular walks and runs in order to let off steam.
Now the 40-year-old is aiming to improve the health and wellbeing of other NHS staff member after realising the negative impacts the coronavirus pandemic had on many people's mental health. Last year in March 2021 after the third lockdown, she started to see a lot of staff feeling isolated and not going outside as much.
She said: “I’m an active person, and I like to enjoy outdoor activities, so I thought won’t be a good idea to encourage my work colleagues to get involved. I started to partner up with Alexander Adventures which helps organise outdoor sports for NHS staff.
“Last year, I ran from Lobley Hill to Tynemouth and raised £2,000 to help arrange and organise outdoor activities. To raise money for future activities we have arranged a charity fundraiser for October 1 2022 and many local businesses have donated raffle prizes. Domino's has even donated 35 pizzas as well as other businesses helping with catering. So far we have sold 300 tickets.
“Next year we are planning to complete a hike in Nepal which myself I will raise money for the well-being fund but 50% of proceeds I would like to donate to a charity fund.”
Katy Maughan, a community nurse in Gateshead working for the QE trust, has been a friend of Fior for many years at work. She said: “During the pandemic, she saw how many of her friends and colleagues were stressed, upset, traumatised, and to help she shared her love of outdoors.
“She recognised I was struggling in 2021 and was there for me and got me out the house for walks, beach days, etc. What started as sharing her love of the outdoors, she has now become the QE well-being team member and works with Alexander Adventures to raise money for QE trust staff to book onto events."
The QE Staff outdoor and wellbeing group has expanded to become the NHS North East Wellbeing and Outdoor activity Group, working in partnership with Alexander Adventures Ltd. Open to all NHS staff, the group focuses on outdoor sports and activities for different competence levels, from local walks and ‘confidence building’ beginners sessions swimming outdoors, to full days canoeing, paddle boarding and hiking.
With a passion for the outdoors and fitness, the mission is simply to 'provide staff with a safe space to clear their heads, relax and rebuild their morale after such a challenging period'. As well as mounting evidence to support the benefits of exercise and being outdoors, the group has received much 'positive' participant feedback, as well as gained recognition from the Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust, with Fior being appointed Health and Wellbeing Ambassador in 2021.
The group reaches hundreds of staff and almost a hundred took part in the activities over 2021. The feedback from the team has been 'overwhelmingly positive' and several staff members have shared their feelings about how helpful the group activities have been for their well-being after a difficult couple of years working through the pandemic.
One staff member said: "We really enjoyed the day and now want to come along to more well-being events. The staff couldn’t have been more helpful and appreciated the challenges we faced. We all had the opportunity to open up and talk in a safe environment”.
Another group member explained how the day spent outdoors has "made their day", adding that they "always come back feeling rebooted, refreshed, happy and feel I’ve achieved something – ready for the following week's challenges."
Plans for the future involve a Yorkshire three peaks challenge, mountain days in the Lake District, lowland walks, paddle boarding, coasteering, kayaking, sea kayaking, and glamping trips to name but a few. Fior wants the group to provide staff with a safe space to clear their heads and give colleagues somewhere to relax.
In addition to setting up the group, last year Fior ran an incredible 28 miles to raise money to fund a series of these wellbeing days for her fellow staff members. She added: “I have a passion for the outdoors and fitness. Being able to share that with my colleagues provides me with a boost, and I hope that doing so helps boost others too.”
Alexander AdventuresLTD is contactable at 0191 903 9936 and info@alexanderadventures.co.uk.
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