|
Hospital
Ward Grandparents visit John Hunter Children's Hospital
Early
in the morning on 19 March 2009, we met our dedicated ward
grandparent volunteers at Central Station in Sydney for
our day trip to John Hunter Children's Hospital.
Our
trip was made possible because of funding received from
2009
NSW Seniors' Week Grants Program. We are truly grateful
to the Department of Ageing Disability and Homecare for
providing us with this grant which was invaluable to the
success of celebrating Seniors Week with our hospital ward
grandparent volunteers.
Jo
Oliver (WGS Co-ordinator) &
David McNamara (Director of Social Work) with WGS volunteers
The
Social Work Department at Kaleidoscope hosted the meeting.
We were greeted by Joanne Oliver (WGS Co-ordinator) and
David McNamara (Head Social Work at Kaleidoscope), accompanied
by the friendly ward grandparents of John Hunter Children's
Hospital. As usual our volunteers quickly formed a rapport
with each other, sharing stories and scheming of ways to
get AWCH to organise more training days and excursions so
they can meet other hospital ward grandparents who are too
far away to come to Sydney.
Kaleidoscope
prepared a very educational and interesting information
session about the Hunter New England Health Services and
the different areas of volunteering services offered at
John Hunter. Everyone's favourite was the visit from an
adorable golden retriever of The Delta Pet Partners program.
We were then divided into four separate groups and were
taken on a tour of the hospital grounds including the hospital
school, outpatients and several children's wards.
Highlights
of the tour include:-
Starlight
Express Room
 The
Starlight Express room is a specially designed interactive
room designed to brighten the lives of children in hospital.
In the Starlight Room Captain Starlight reigns supreme,
dazzling children with interactive games, comedy and fun.
Activities and events in the Room are also broadcast live
to children unable to make it to the Room.
Ronald
McDonald Family Room
The Ronald McDonald Family Room is a special place where
parents of sick children can go to and relax, have something
to eat, do a load of washing, listen to music or take some
time out to read, without having to leave the hospital complex.
The Room includes sleeping facilities for parents who may
need a quiet place to have a nap.
Fairy
Sparkle Forest Garden
 The
Fairy Sparkle Forest Garden is a sanctuary for patients
and staff; a place to escape the hustle and bustle of the
ward and take time out in a forest wonderland. The Garden
is also available to patients attending outpatient clinics.
A delicious
lunch was served after the hospital tour and once again
our volunteers couldn't wait to mingle and share more ideas!
Alas the day has to come to an end and with extended farewells,
we slowly made our way to our coach and headed back to Sydney.
The
Association for the Wellbeing of Children in Healthcare
(AWCH) would like to express gratitude to the Social Work
Department at Kaleidoscope for hosting the meeting of the
Hospital Ward Grandparent Scheme volunteers and the very
friendly John Hunter Hospital Ward Grandparents who made
us feel very welcome.
1
- 2 - 3 - 4
- 5 - 6
- 7 - 8
- 9 - 10
Print
WGS Report
Print
E-news
|
