This year Med Day will take place on Friday November 6th.
Med Day is a student-led fundraising event endorsed by the School of Medicine at Trinity College Dublin.
Since 2002, the medical school has designated one day a year when students raise money for charity instead of attending lectures.
“Med Day is a student-run event. The committee and I are hugely passionate about Med Day as we are making a tangible difference to the hospitals we train in. As medical students, patients are our teachers and raising funds for these hospitals is our way to say thank you,” said Ms Eimear Duff, Chairperson of the Med Day.
On the day over 600 medical students meet up on campus early in the morning, have a quick breakfast and don ‘Med Day’ T-shirts. They then spread out to various locations around the city with collection buckets, greeting pedestrians and asking for donations.
This collection drive is also supplemented by other fundraisers such as sponsored marathons, busking, bake sales and raffles. All money raised from the day is used to fund worthy causes in Trinity-affiliated hospitals. Over the past 13 years they have raised over €500,000 for new health services and medical equipment which benefit patients.
This year’s beneficiaries include Lung Cancer Research at St James’s Hospital , helping Tallaght Hospital acquire an ultrasound machine for the rheumatology clinic, a cough assist machine for National Rehabilitation Hospital and the Trinity Access Programme (TAP).
Speaking at the launch today, Neven Maguire, said “I am very happy to be an Ambassador with St. James Hospital for its Target Lung Cancer appeal. This is a cause very close to my heart. We lost our mum, Vera, to lung cancer three years ago and I am very keen to support such a great campaign that raises funds for lung cancer research and patient care”.
