Safelift Gift Specialist Walker

1st December, 2008 @ 09.43 am

The kind-hearted company who came to Alfie Arthur and his family’s rescue when the NHS wouldn’t fund a specialist walker for the disabled boy has been revealed as Safelift Onshore.

Safelift Onshore was launched in February 2008 on the back of the success of their offshore division. They specialise in providing manual handling and ergonomic solutions for companies both locally and throughout the UK . Ritchie Barron , Director, explained that everyone in the company had been touched by Alfie’s story and felt that they wanted to do something to help the family. “Our initial thoughts were that we could design and manufacture a frame for Alfie ourselves”. However faced with a busy workload of their own combined with the news that Alfie’s trial walker was to be returned to NHS Grampian imminently, it was felt that the quicker the walker was gifted to the family the better, so they contacted the specialist American manufacturer and placed the order.

Safelift Onshore were forced to “come clean” with the group of mothers organising Alfie’s fundraisers about their order when the P&J ran articles highlighting the family’s plight. Mr Barron explained “We didn’t want to make a fuss about it as we are the type of company that prefer to solve the problem first before we publicise it. However, the important thing was for Alfie and his family to know that they did not have to worry about having to raise the funds for such a vital piece of equipment. Like what we do for companies on a day to day basis, we hope that by providing a simple piece of equipment it will make a huge difference to his daily life.”

Alfie and his family were absolutely delighted to be presented with the walker. Alfie’s mum, Colette, said “We’re extremely touched by the generosity people have been showing us since we started to fundraise for Alfie. Safelift Onshore’s gift of the walker makes it feel like Christmas has come early. It was such a lovely surprise, and we’d like to take this opportunity to extend our heart-felt thanks to the company. Now my friends and I can focus on raising the funds for the wheelchair access mobility car and the alterations to our house to make it wheelchair friendly”.

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