Supporting patients and bringing smiles to little faces in CHI at Connolly
In 2021, through the generosity of our supporters, we helped bring a smile to the patients who attended Children’s Health Ireland at Connolly when they needed it most. With this funding, the play specialist in Connolly was able to mark special occasions for brave patients including birthdays and treatment milestones, as well as providing extra comforts for vulnerable families who have ended up in urgent care with their child, flustered and upset. “With this funding, we have been able to purchase birthday presents for any patients that come to Connolly on their birthday. For children under the age of twelve, they received a present or gift and the adolescents receive a voucher for a range of stores. Words can’t describe that smile patients give you when you recognise their birthday with a present. Birthdays are so important to children and adolescents. Coming into the Urgent Care Centre with an in injury or illness or attending the Outpatient Department on your birthday can make them feel so down, but through this funding we can brighten up their day with a present. This present shows that we recognise how important their special day is to them and to us. Families are always so thankful of the birthday gift, and everyone always leaves with a big smile regardless of how sick they are.
Coming into the urgent care centre (UCC) or outpatients’ department (OPD) can be a scary and frightening time for any child, so it is important to mark their bravery regardless of how small achievement it is to us; to them it is a massive achievement to have bloods done, to have wires removed, to have their cuts stitched up or their broken bones fixed. Through the funding, I am able to have a reward box in each department full of small presents to mark
the patient’s bravery while in our care. These boxes have been a life-saver and to say they have got us
through a lot of procedures is an understatement. To be able to mark their bravery by letting them pick something out of the reward box is heart-warming to watch and the parents are always so thankful, and they all leave with smiles instead of the tears they came in with.
A lot of children and adolescents come into the UCC quite sick or present with severe breaks or deformity of their limbs. A lot of the time their clothes can get soiled from being sick or we may have to cut a piece of clothing off to get to their badly deformed limb. Up until recently, the child or adolescent went home in either a surgical gown or their parent’s jacket or jumper which to me felt so wrong and not very dignified. Through the funding I have been able to purchase PJs, fluffy socks and some underwear for any patient that needed it. To be able to offer a fresh pair of PJs to a patient who has been sick is a welcome addition we can all relate to. They nstantly
feel better after a freshen up and new pyjamas.
As some of the patients must be admitted to the inpatient hospital for surgery or for observations, parents are not prepared and there is always a panic to try and get pyjamas and clothes in for them. Here in Children’s Health Ireland at Connolly, we can offer them a pair of pyjamas, underwear, and socks to help them get through their first night stay. You can see instantly the relief on parents faces when you offer it to them. It is one thing less they must stress about, and they can put all their focus on their sick child or adolescent. The funding allows for this to happen.
We get a lot of children and adolescents presenting to both the UCC and OPD with additional needs. This can be a very stressful time for both children and their families. With the help of the funding, we can keep our sensory boxes and our sensory room well stocked up with the appropriate sensory toys and equipment that children or adolescents may need, to help get them through their hospital admission without adding any additional stress or trauma to them or their family.
Thanks to the funding, we have sensory boxes in all our procedures and treatment rooms, in our OPD department, day lounge and in our radiology department. These boxes are vital tools of equipment for each department when looking after a child with autism or additional needs. As a result of having the appropriate sensory toys and equipment for children and adolescents, it generally results in a stress and trauma-free admission for both the child and the family. By providing the appropriate sensory environment, following hospital admission to Connolly will be hopefully less stressful for the whole family.”
Lorraine Smith,
Play Specialist
Children’s Health Ireland at Connolly