Parkrunners will lead the way in a demonstration against potential threats to Huddersfield’s A&E.
Heart attack survivor and marathon man Sean Doyle is behind Saturday’s event, which will see him and a team of runners head to both Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and Calderdale Royal Hospital in Halifax.
And in a separate move around 35,000 people have already joined the Facebook campaign group which has planned a large rally at St George’s Square in Huddersfield Saturday at 1pm.
Sean, 48, wants more runners to join his eight strong team alongside support from printers and florists to show the need for keeping the service in Huddersfield.
Sean, who collapsed at a Parkrun and only had a 6% chance of survival is one of many people involved with the Let’s Save Huddersfield A&E social media campaign.
READ MORE:Kirklees MPs unite in fight to save Huddersfield's A&E unit
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The team of runners will meet at 9am at Greenhead Park to watch the Parkrun begin, then will run up to HRI and then CRH where they will post letters of thanks from Sean for his lifesaving treatment.
“I’m doing it for several reasons”, Sean said.
“One, to raise as much awareness as possible about the official petition, for which we need 100,000 signatures to get it debated in parliament.
“The second is to raise awareness of the time it takes to get to Calderdale Royal.
“I also want to say thanks to both departments for the life saving treatment they gave me.
“We’ll lay some flowers outside the entrance to HRI and will give hospital staff a thank you card.
“We hope to set off from there at 10am to Halifax and people can either run back with us or get the bus.”
He made a plea for more people to join him.
“It would be great for as many runners to join us as possible.
Hands off our A&E: Sign the government petition to save Huddersfield Royal Infimary A&E here
“I’m especially keen for running clubs to come and join us.
“We’re also looking for someone who can print T-shirts for all of us and a florist who could provide wreaths for us to lay outside HRI.”
Sean explained the importance of keeping Huddersfield’s A&E.
“At the moment, it would be an outlandish idea to move it,” he said. “Huddersfield is made up of outlining villages that have to use arcane road structures. We need this problem resolving before anything happens.
“I also don’t think that we should be carrying the costs of a PFI (private finance initiative) mess at CRH.”
On Wednesday, health chiefs in Huddersfield and Calderdale unanimously voted to put a plan, which could lead to the closure of the town’s A&E, to a public consultation.
Those wanting to join Sean’s run should call him on 07725 413801 during the day or 07720 821736 at night.
The petition, which has already been signed by around 28,000 people, can be signed at petition.parliament.uk
