The team at Gilbert-Ash come together to Give a Hand
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November 10, 2021
The team at Gilbert-Ash invited keynote speaker David Meade and Lightbulb Teams to their new Boucher Place headquarters in Belfast to deliver one of his powerful and thought-provoking Give a Hand workshops.
The purpose of the Give a Hand initiative is to challenge participants to build – from scratch – real clinical prosthetic hands that are then donated to needy individuals in the developing world.
Through teamwork and personal resolve delegates work to construct this life enhancing prosthetic that gives patients back their independence and allows them to return to work or school and to write, draw, feed themselves or drive a vehicle.
Explaining the reason for the workshop a spokesperson for Gilbert-Ash said: “As you can imagine, there’s not been much buzz about the place until recently. So as we journey back to more normal times, we knew we wanted to welcome staff back with something truly special.”
Managing Director, Ray Hutchinson commented: “This project is very close to both David’s heart, our purpose and why we exist. It’s an opportunity to make a difference to our people, our projects and our planet through innovation, collaboration and determination.”
He added: “It’s been incredible for all the people that have been here.”
With the day structured into three sessions, David delivered a powerful keynote speech explaining the difference workshops such as these could make to an unknown individual’s life.
Commenting on the event David said: “We’ve been so lucky to work with Gilbert-Ash on our Give a Hand Programme. It’s an amazing way to bring teams together and collaborating while showing true determination.
“Everyone in the room is participating in producing life-changing prosthetic hands that will be delivered for free and donated in Gilbert-Ash’s name to needy individuals who have lost their hands as a result of violent crime or electrocution. The Give a Hand programme really does allow team members to achieve something extraordinary while working together.”
While this event was an opportunity to reconnect with colleagues, it also allowed for a chance to pause and reflect.
Inspired by the initiative the Gilbert-Ash team described the day as ‘fun’, a ‘learning experience’ and ‘emotional’ with all the participants coming together to rise to the challenge.
