70 years since liberation of Auschwitz
Health and Social Care Committee meeting this morning
Kaimes School – Film Premiere tomorrow!
Western General Hospital not quite up to the mark
Water of Leith Clean up
Today marks 70 years since the liberation of those left at Auschwitz on 27 January 1945. Last September The Edinburgh Reporter was invited by the Holocaust Education Trust to join a one day trip to Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum guided by experts along with 200 or so school pupils from across Scotland including some from schools here in the capital.
Here is our magazine report of the visit which ended with a prayer being offered in memory of those who died there.
The Holocaust Education Trust (HET) offers a four part course for two students aged 16-18 from a school or college to go to Auschwitz, attend two seminars and participation in a Next Steps project though which the students pass on the lessons they have learned.
The cost of going on the trip is subsidised by The Scottish Government and HET.
HET was formed in 1988 to raise awareness of the Holocaust and its relevance today. Learn more here.
Unsung stories is an expressive arts project which has been ongoing for the last two years and has involved many past and present learners from Kaimes School.
It tracks the history of migration to Scotland through personal real life stories and investigation into the past.
Ros Miller, headteacher of Kaimes Primary said: “We have created nine short films about people who have chosen to come from outside Edinburgh to settle here….people from Japan, Pakistan, Cuba, Poland, Chile, Kurdistan and the North of Scotland.
“We have also created twelve murals which tell the story of migration to Scotland over the centuries to the present day. Some of these panels have been on display in Holyrood at the Scottish Parliament.”
There is an official screening at the Filmhouse tomorrow morning which will be a world premiere of these short animated films made by autistic children from Kaimes School. The project has involved Red Kite Animation and Hoda productions, and is funded by Young Start.
The murals will be mounted on the outside of the K2 Building and all of the films can be viewed here.
Watch one of the stories here:
Jessie’s Story – Scotland from mary walters on Vimeo.
The report says:
“We carried out an unannounced inspection to the Western General Hospital on Tuesday 18 and Wednesday 19 November 2014. Due to significant concerns about the cleanliness of patient equipment and environmental cleanliness within the Western General Hospital, we escalated our concerns to senior management in NHS Lothian on 18 November and then again on 19 November 2014. On ward 52/53, we also raised concerns about the lack of working macerators and the procedures in place to reduce the risk of cross-infection to patients, staff and visitors. Macerators break human waste down into slurry so it can be sluiced effectively. We requested that immediate action be taken on these issues and an improvement action plan produced to show how these issues would be rectified.
We returned unannounced on Thursday 27 November 2014 to assess progress against the improvement action plan at ward and departmental level. Significant improvements had been made although we still noted some issues with the cleanliness of patient equipment and the environment.”
Overall the report states that cleanliness of patient equipment was poor.
“An action plan for areas of improvement has been developed by the NHS board and is available to view on the Healthcare Improvement Scotland website
Sunday 1st February 10.30am – 1pm Clean-up in Leith. Meet at the small council car park off Coburg Street, opposite the “Riverside Cafe”. Parking is free.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
