Falcon supports Vine Trust’s #FloatTheBoat campaign to deliver a fully equipped primary healthcare vessel to the Peruvian Amazon.
They build them tough in Scotland. Which is just as well for the Dominator Plus oven range that Falcon has donated to the Vine Trust. It’s about to take a tricky, six week Atlantic crossing in a 30m boat, the Forth Hope, from Rosyth, Scotland to Iquitos in Peru. Once there, it will spend 20 years feeding the crews as the vessel sails up and down the Peruvian Amazon, providing 100,000 medical and dental consultations a year. The ship has a dental surgery, operating theatre, consultation rooms and a pharmacy, enabling international medical and dental volunteers, alongside a team of local clinicians, to transform lives in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities.
“It is sometimes said that the chef is one of the most important people onboard,” says Rory MacPherson, Forth Hope’s media coordinator who also happens to be the Forth Hope’s chef for the Atlantic crossing. “That’s because the crew needs good food to keep them going during the long days. Which underlines what a vital piece of equipment the cooker is.”
Rory and his Falcon cooker will have their work cut out. As well as coping with the Atlantic swells and the demands of an industrious (and hungry) crew, they’ll need to come up with dishes suitable for the table of no less than two Admirals – part of the contingency sent over by the Peruvian Navy to help the ship on its voyage. More importantly, however, once the Forth Hope reaches the Amazon, the Falcon cooker will provide regular hot meals for its crew and medical teams, giving them the energy required to welcome and treat hundreds of patients each day.
The Vine Trust uses fully-equipped medical vessels to deliver primary healthcare on the Peruvian Amazon and, more recently, on Lake Victoria in Tanzania. The Forth Hope is the Trust’s newest ship. Over the next 20 years, Forth Hope is expected to deliver two million dental, medical and ophthalmic consultations to remote and isolated communities living in poverty.
The initial cost of deploying a vessel like this is vast – in the case of the Forth Hope, it amounts to over £100,000. “We decided to launch a crowdfunding campaign using the hashtag #FloatTheBoat, and we’ve had a great response from individuals and organisations,” says Rory.
However, the support of companies like Falcon is invaluable. “We’re delighted that Falcon has supported Forth Hope’s outfitting, donating the Dominator oven range for the ship’s galley,” he says. The Forth Hope’s Dominator Plus oven range, model E3101 OTC 6HP, has six fast-acting circular hotplates and a large 2/1 GN compatible fan-assisted oven. It’s marine-spec, so it has extra features such as storm rails, oven door latches and deck feet. More importantly, like all Falcon equipment, it’s built to last, however tough the going gets.
“The cooker is a fantastic bit of kit,” says Rory. “I’m looking forward to using it on the transatlantic delivery voyage, but it will really come into its own when it’s helping to feed the medical teams and crew as Forth Hope changes lives on the Amazon.”
To find out more about the MV Forth Hope, or about how to donate to the #FloatTheBoat crowdfunding campaign, visit www.vinetrust.org .