Read on Twitter
Got a bit of an announcement from me and my youngest brother @SamAwoolf. A thread:
Dad is still in the hospital on a ventilator with covid-19. His condition is still critical. Before all this nightmare began, though, we knew that one of the worst parts of a hospital stay, especially for an avid reader like dad, would be the boredom.
That& #39;s compounded by the nature of this pandemic. We can& #39;t go visit dad - nobody can go and see their loved ones in hospital the way they usually can. Recovery from this disease is a long and heartbreakingly lonely road.
We obviously can& #39;t do anything to help medically. But when we asked dad& #39;s doctors if there was some way to get him something loaded with audiobooks, they universally said that this was something that could be a great help not just to dad but all their patients.
(apologies, just got today& #39;s daily call from the hospital with an update about dad, will resume this thread in a sec)
OK I& #39;m back. Where was I.
So. We wanted to see if there was a way we could help - and I& #39;m so proud to announce that yesterday afternoon we delivered a box of Kindle devices loaded audiobooks to the staff at @whithealth as a pilot program for what we& #39;re calling the Books for Dad Project.
The pilot program will last a week, and - if it& #39;s successful - we hope to be able to quickly expand the #BooksforDad project to hospitals across London and nationwide.
Special thanks to our partners @AudibleUK for their incredible kindness in supplying the devices and stuffing them full of great audiobooks for recovering patients to read - without them this wouldn& #39;t have been possible.
And thanks also to Project Wingman - a volunteer network of staff from @British_Airways and others who are helping out in NHS frontline hospitals - who will be providing disposable headphones for the project.
Lots of people already asking for ways to donate - your kindness is overwhelming and I love you all. We& #39;re going to wait to see results from the pilot program first, but if staff and patients tell us they find it helpful then we& #39;ll start fundraising soon, so watch this space...
And of course, our deepest thanks go to the dedicated staff of @WhitHealth, and all the doctors and nurses and care workers looking after dad and thousands of patients like him across the country with infinite patience, kindness, and dedication.
A coda: Audible was kind enough to add an extra device outside the pilot program so Dad could have one. He& #39;s sedated on the ventilator so no idea if he can hear, but he& #39;s listening to Pride and Prejudice and had a positive day, slight recovery today. The power of literature! https://twitter.com/audibleuk/status/1256598550420602881">https://twitter.com/audibleuk...
Oh! almost forgot, but in particular I want to thank @newsmary and @SophiePlateau at @audibleuk, without whom none of this would have been possible
