Thursday, October 31, 2013

Congratulations to Ferno legend Elroy Bourgraf



Congratulations to Ferno legend and Chairman Elroy Bourgraf on being inducted into the Greater Cincinnati Business Hall of Fame.
The hall of fame honours past and present business leaders for their achievements and contributions to the quality of life in the Greater Cincinnati community.
In June of 1955, Ferno’s founder Richard Ferneau left the Washington Mortuary Company and formed the Ferno Manufacturing Company in Staunton, Ohio. He was then joined by Elroy Bourgraf and the company moved to Circleville, Ohio, and then to Greenfield, Ohio. In 1960, Ferno Manufacturing acquired the Washington Mortuary Company and the company name was changed to Ferno-Washington Inc, which is now located in Wilmington, Ohio.
Over the many years, the duo remained concerned with improving patient care and comfort as well as reducing the physical strain endured by EMT’s and Paramedics in lifting and the carrying of patients.
Congratulations Elroy from Ferno (UK) on your success over the many years for your contribution in improving global patient care and protecting EMT’s from back injury!

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Celebrating our award winners

Jo Ryan, Human Resource Business Patner, with Donna Housecroft and Jon Ellis
Jo Ryan with Charlie McAteer and Jon Ellis
Jo Ryan with Vicki Bray and Jon Ellis
Production team with Jo Ryan and Jon Ellis
What a great bunch of people we work with at Ferno
We recently asked our colleagues to nominate those teams and team members who they felt went over and above what was expected of them during the last financial year.
We had a wide variety of nominations but one team and four individuals stood out.
These people were all nominated by staff across the business, both inside and outside of their own area of work. We are pleased to congratulate our joint first prize winners:
  • Charlie McAteer (Warehouse Operative)
  • Donna Housecroft (Service Co-ordinator)
and our joint second prize winners:
  • Vicki Bray (Commercial Co-ordinator)
  • Liz Bottomley (Credit Controller) for their fantastic contribution.

Our team of the year went to Production, for their dedication and effectiveness throughout the whole year. The only problem is that now they need to build a trophy cabinet to store their award – apparently it’s going to be the first of many coming their way!

Monday, October 28, 2013

£4,000 donation for The Town Foundation

We are delighted to announce that The Town Foundation has received a one off donation of £4,000 Ferno.
We are a long-time supporter of the Huddersfield Town Football Club and already supply it with medical and evacuation equipment and we are also a regular feature at commercial events.
From afar we have watched the excellent work being undertaken by the Foundation and following a meeting with Trustee and Commercial Director Sean Jarvis, we donated £4,000 to help the charity continue to help improve the quality of life for young people across Kirklees and the West Yorkshire area.
Our MD Jon Ellis, who has in the past supported the Keep it Up campaign by taking part in the Pedal for Pounds bike rides, says: “Ferno is proud to be involved and support The Town Foundation help local schools and children in the Kirklees area. Ferno is a global company that has over 18 operations around the world and they like to get involved in the community as it is always good to be able to offer our support not only financially, but in terms of commitment from our staff being involved in assisting wherever possible to enhance the experience for children within the local area.
“The Town Foundation is making a difference in changing children’s lives and it is good to be associated with such a needed and worthy cause.”
Corporate Fundraising Officer of the Foundation Mandy Taylor, added: “To receive an unconditional donation of such a significant amount truly was a great surprise to the charity. After visiting the company in Cleckheaton and meeting the team it is apparent that they all have the best interests of the children and families in our community at heart. We now look forward to working with them all to deliver some exciting initiatives moving forward”


Aaron lends a helping hand with Prince's Trust


Alan Clark, our Operations Director, sent us this press cutting about his son Aaron Clark.
Aaron, a team leader with the Prince’s Trust is pictured front on the left with his team from the St Swithun’s Centre, Wakefield.
The group have raised £165 to transform the garden at their base at St Swithun’s. They raised the cash through a film competition, sponsored jog and a cup cake sale.
Aaron told the Wakefield Express: “The team chose this as their community project because they saw it was run down and wanted to make a difference to the local area.”
Some of the money raised will also be donated to the British Heart Foundation.

Thursday, October 24, 2013

We start them young at Ferno!

When our Product Manager Michael Thornton received the above picture by email under the subject line “Is this one of your stretchers?” he assumed it had been sent by his wife.
But no! The eagle-eyed Ferno scout was Michael’s six-year-old son Isaac who had spotted our basket stretcher on the field when Everton clashed with Hull at Goodison Park.
Michael tells us: “When I received the email, I thought it was my wife that had sent it, but found out it was in fact Isaac.
“Using my wife’s phone he managed to take the photo on his own when watching recording of the Match of the Day, then managed to put it into an email and write the subject of the email and sent it to me on my work email address, all on his own!
“I laughed so much when I found out he had done it, and not my wife. A true Ferno supporter, maybe we can employ him as a Ferno blog contributor?”
In fact that’s not a bad idea – we would be delighted to accept all contributions to the blog from all Ferno colleagues and their kids! And it doesn’t have to be about emergency medical equipment – it can be about what you did on your holidays, your favourite restaurant or just send us some pictures which we can post on the blog or on our Facebook page.
Our MD Jon Ellis said: “Isaac has clearly taken an interest in his Dad’s work and we would like to congratulate him for his eagle-eyed support. I wonder if he’s going to follow in his Dad’s footsteps – if so he would be very welcome at Ferno.”

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Ferno helps create a buzz for world-first child-friendly BUMBLEance

Ferno and our partner group company Acetech are delighted to have been involved in the development of the world’s first interactive ambulance service designed especially for children.
BUMBLEance is based in Ireland and was launched at the beginning of September. The ambulance, which looks like a giant bumble bee, has been kitted out with the latest technology yet it has been designed with the needs of children in mind.
The Saoirse Foundation - the charity behind the service - has created a fun environment for sick children to travel to and from hospitals and medical centres for scheduled appointments.
We have donated a Pegasus trolley complete with our latest antimicrobial pressure-reducing mattress and Biosafe harness and restraints. The company has also donated a NMI Track Lock to secure the Pegasus trolley in the BUMBLEance safely, allowing it to be positioned either on the offside or centre of the vehicle for patient treatment.
Our managing director Jon Ellis said: “This is a great initiative and one which Ferno is extremely proud to support and be a part of. An ambulance journey can be an unnerving and sometimes frightening experience for anyone but even more so for children. I am sure that BUMBLEance will have a positive impact on all the children they transport, as well as their parents and carers.”
Ferno has also teamed up with Nebulair Technologies to supply one of their Nebulair decontamination systems to BUMBLEance for free. The Nebulair NS500 uses patented dry mist technology to decontaminate an area and is ideal for use in hospitals, nursing homes, ambulances, schools, vets, offices, trains and aeroplanes.
Pierre Labat, director at Nebulair Technologies, explained: “The Nebulair system offers protection against a wide range of harmful pathogens including MRSA, Norovirus, C.difficile, Swine Flu and Salmonella. An ultrasonic nebuliser delivers a water-based high level disinfectant and the ultra light ‘dry mist ' sanitises all exposed surfaces, as well as the air within the target area ensuring that any airborne pathogens are also destroyed and no infection hotspots are missed.
“We are pleased to be working with Ferno to donate one of our systems for use within the BUMBLEance – a fantastic service for children who are poorly as well as for their families which I am in no doubt makes a huge difference to them during difficult times.”
In addition, Ferno’s vehicle intelligence system ACETECH has also been installed in the BUMBLEance. ACETECH is a fully integrated vehicle performance monitoring and control system for ambulances and other emergency response vehicles which provides on-board intelligence to help reduce operating and fuel costs. The system is the first of its kind for UK emergency vehicles and inter-connects four key modules that offer customised monitoring and control of all vehicle electronics - driving, driver restraint systems, GPS-based monitoring, tyre pressure monitoring and control of fleet vehicle assets in the field.
BUMBLEance has a 19 inch LED TV, Playstation games console, iPad Mini and a dual channel Wi-Fi hotspot which enables the ambulance to communicate, allowing live streaming from the internet, Skype calls and more.
BUMBLEance will transport children from across Ireland, both urban and rural locations, to wherever they are to be treated in a vehicle which has been brightly decorated inside and out. Two parents or carers can travel alongside the child and paramedics are fully qualified with specialist pediatric skills.
Tony Heffernan, founder of the Saoirse Foundation, said: “BUMBLEance provides stress-reducing journeys for children in state of the art, safe, fun vehicles. Every parent knows that an ambulance journey with a child can be very traumatic however within BUMBLEance, fun will be the medicine of the day.
“We have been very lucky to receive fantastic support from every sector of Irish society and companies like Ferno, ACETECH and Nebulair. The Saoirse Foundation receives no state funding for this service and is reliant on support from the business community and members of the public. These donations are integral to the future of the BUMBLEance service in Ireland and its growth.”
For more information visit www.BUMBLEance.com or You Tube .

Monday, October 7, 2013

The boys are on the ball at Brighouse Rangers

Here’s a picture of the Brighouse Rangers Under 13's Rugby team after winning the toughest match of their season.  They beat second placed West Bowling by 14-8 which means they will finish top of their league by three points.
As one of the lead sponsors of the team we’re delighted with their success and long may it continue. Ferno is keen to support local initiatives like this and we are involved in many charitable and sporting organisations in and around Cleckheaton and where our staff live. This includes our main charitable interest in Yorkshire Air Ambulance.
The boys from Brighouse will now enjoy a celebratory trip to Wales to play Cardiff Spartans and see the opening games of the World Cup at the Millennium Stadium at the end of the month.
Needless to say the team will be proudly wearing their team tracks suits with the Ferno logo on it as which we have donated and they will be showing off on the trip.

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Here we are the Funeral Times Trade Show, Dublin

Here’s a picture from Jon Ellis, our managing director, of our stand at the Funeral Times Trade Show 2013 at Citywest Hotel & Conference Centre in Dublin.
Our business development manager Chris King is pictured with all our funeral kit on a stand we are sharing with CPL Funeral Supplies' William McGuckin.
Based in Northern Ireland, CPL Funeral Supplies was established by William who previously managed his own funeral business after achieving a Diploma in Funeral Directing in 1987.
If you are attending the Funeral Times Show be sure to come along and meet the team. We’re here for the next two days.