Helping hand for volunteers

The local volunteers who give up their time to support sufferers of the painful and disabling bone condition osteoporosis have received a very welcome boost from the owner of the recently opened Zaika Tandoori restaurant in Galashiels.

The Zaika proprietor Sardar Bulbul last month put on a free buffet in aid of the Borders Support Group of the National Osteoporosis Society at his Market Street eatery.

And with each guest paying £10 as a donation to the group, the fantastic sum of £635 was raised.

“It was a fantastic gesture by Sardar and his staff and a fantastic evening for a group which performs a vital function, but relies on charitable donations to keep going,” said Dr Andrew Pearson, the consultant radiologist who runs the acclaimed Borders Osteoporosis and Fracture Liaison Service at Borders General Hospital.

Such largesse will allow the support group to run educational events in the hospital’s Trust Chaplaincy Centre.

On Monday last week, Dr Rebecca Barr, a bone specialist from Aberdeen, visited yo give a lecture on basic bone biology.

And there will be another such event on Tuesday, March 22, when Dr Pearson and Karen Graham, currently the osteoporosis 
specialist nurse at the BGH, will be talking about how to look after your bones and how people can cope with and manage the condition.

“The support group provides a valuable interface with the public on the innovative work being done here in the Borders where we have achieved a reduction in hip fracture numbers despite a rise throughout the rest of the country,” said Dr Pearson this week.

“With each hip replacement procedure costing our health and social car services around £40,000 this is a hugely gratifying outcome.

“With the help of the support group, we also try to promote positive lifestyle choices.”

Dr Pearson, speaking of the launch of the Borders Osteoporosis and Fracture Liaison Service in 2012, said:“It has been recognized throughout the UK that NHS Borders is taking a leading role in this area, improving the effectiveness of fracture prevention by running the Fracture Liaison Service from within Radiology. In other areas these services are usually run separately and Radiology has a smaller role in this important work.”