These funds have been used to upgrade equipment making the kids time in hospital more comfortable, we have supplied toys, game consoles and multimedia entertainment facilities to help amuse them while they are there. All of the Cash for Kids financial support donated to the Children’s hospital has been directed to alleviating the burden of medically disadvantaged children suffering from a variety of conditions, to help take their minds off their individual difficulties and let the doctors focus on trying to help them.

 

Here are some of the ways Cash for Kids has made a difference in the Belfast Royal Hospital for Sick Children so far:

 

 

The Paediatric Intensive Care Unit took delivery of a new state of the art weigh bed to assist in the calculation of weight to determine the correct dosage of drugs.

 

The staff from PICU explain the need for this bed as follows:-

 

‘The children who are admitted to the unit have life threatening conditions that require numerous drug therapies to maintain their blood pressure, heart rate and respiration.

Further to this, their fluid intake and urinary output need meticulous monitoring and measurement. To give the correct amount of the drug requires us to know the patient weight on admission and also on a daily basis. Otherwise the patients would be require to be lifted on a hoist to be weighed. The majority of our patients are too unstable to have this done, so we have to estimate their weight by formulae. As you can imagine, this can be inaccurate which may introduce due risk and potential problems for us. To be able to admit a patient on to a weigh bed and push a button to have an immediate is marvellous, reducing the risk to the patient!! We would in the future envisage that all our beds would have that facility, however to have one is a real benefit for our patients.

 

 

Room Makeover Kits to create a child friendly environment throughout the ward.

Multi sensory equipment to help develop and stimulate children of all ages and abilities.

A 250 solar projector and effects wheels and accessories to be used in conjunction with the projector.

A fibre optic light and vibrating snakes.

 

Ward 31 General decorating, portable DVD players, DVD Combos, X – Boxes and Nintendo Wii’s & games.

 

Play Specialist comments:-

 

‘I have recently started working as a play specialist, ENT, which is a children’s surgical ward based in the adults hospital. The environment is drab and they have very little equipment to occupy the children, whose ages range from babies to 17 year olds. I have been able to make the area more child friendly by decorating it with posters, stick-on’s and mobiles. I have also purchased portable DVD players, DVD Combos, X – Boxes and Nintendo Wii’s with games as well as various other toys and equipment to help make their stay as positive an experience as possible.’

  

 

A Humidified system for laparoscopic surgery allows for a more normal environment for laparoscopic [keyhole] surgery and is strongly believed to decrease post operative pain and subsequent requirement for intravenous analgesia.

 

 

In December 2009 we worked along side Asda in collecting sorting and providing toys for over 750 children living in Northern Ireland. Children who through no fault of their own did not make it onto Santa’s list for many reasons, not least of which included our current financial situation over the last few years.

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