The SCAS LGBT+ Staff Network and our colleagues from Recruitment joined the celebrations at this year’s UK pride, held in Portsmouth on Saturday 7 June. This year’s event saw the inaugural appearance of the SCAS LGBT+ and staff networks pride vehicle, which was kindly sponsored by the SCAS Charity and our union colleagues across Unite, Unison, GMB and the NMC.
Kirsten Willis-Drewett, Assistant Director of Operations and Chair of the LGBT+ Network said “We had great public engagement and positive feedback about the ambulance and it was great to have our Community First Responders (CFR) and Co-responders join us on the day alongside our recruitment team”.
A fun and engaging day was had by all (despite the multiple showers of rain throughout) and the new repurposed vehicle was certainly a hit amongst the public and other partners in attendance.
This vehicle has been designed thanks to the kind donations of sponsorship from our Union colleagues Unite, Unison, GMB and NMC, supported by the SCAS charity and the LGBT+ staff network who have all raised funds to help us put this vehicle on the road. In addition, the company who did the livery charged us half price which enabled us to make this idea a reality.
The vehicle has been designed with thought to all staff networks, who are all represented on the vehicle and it was seen for the first time at UK Pride which took place in Portsmouth last weekend. While it’ll be used for Pride events, every SCAS network also has the opportunity to use the vehicle for any events they may attend, so it really is for everyone and will help us engage with local communities.
We would like to take the opportunity to thank our fleet team for the donation of the decommissioned ambulance and their hard work in getting it ready for the event, to our Union colleagues, SCAS Charity and LGBT+ staff network for their support.
We look forward to it’s next trip out at Newbury Pride on 12 July.
