Comfort Items
The initial aim of Team Evie was to make time in hospital more bearable for families, and we aim to do this through donating a variety of ‘comfort items’. These items take many forms and make things easier for sick children and their families in a number of ways. We provide:
- TV/DVD players & CD players, along with DVDs and CDs – Any distraction for a child who is poorly or recovering from an injury is a good thing, so all the films and albums we donate to be played on the machines we provide keep children entertained and hopefully distracted from what they are facing for a little while.
- Christmas and Easter boxes – We provide boxes for parents filled with sweets, treats and love to make the day a little easier to get through, it is tough enough being in hospital (especially intensive care) but to do it when you know everyone is at home celebrating Christmas or Easter can make it tougher. Our boxes give families a little escape, love and hope. We also provide boxes for the children, containing lovely soft blankets and toys to comfort them while they are poorly, and some toys and treats for when they are better!
- Busy Boxes – These boxes are filled with activities such as colouring books, puzzle books, sticker books and much, much more! The original idea of the box was for the siblings of the patients in intensive care – who visit their brother or sister every day for hours and, understandably, can get bored. The activities in the boxes keep them occupied and busy throughout the visit so the parents can focus on the care of their poorly child. We then extended the reach of the project to all the wards we support – lots of the patients on other wards themselves get bored! Imagine spending day after day stuck in hospital poorly, or with an injury, looking out of the window at the glorious summer weather… the activities in the boxes can’t make the children better, or get them outside, but they can entertain them and take their mind off the situation for a little while, and that can only be a good thing!
- Mobile phone chargers – When we were in hospital with Evie we arrived at the ward early one morning to find a lady who was very stressed. Her son had been involved in an accident and rushed to intensive care through the night. She had obviously rushed to be with him at the hospital, and when she got there she realised she had not picked up her phone charger, and her phone battery had run out. She frantically asked us if we have a Nokia charger…which we didn’t. We felt awful not being able to help the lady… we provide boxes full of every charger possible to wards for parents to borrow, so situations like this don’t happen again.
- Thermos Mugs – The thermos mugs are a Godsend for parents – being able to have a cup of tea or coffee whilst sat with your poorly child makes a huge difference. After all, when we have any stressful experience what do we always do? Have a cuppa…
- Memory books – When a family have a new baby it is incredibly exciting and special to mark all the ‘first’ moments, taking lots of photographs and logging them in a baby record book or family album. This means that the memories are kept safe and the family have the book to look back on over the years to remember those special moments… When a new baby is poorly and stay in hospital for a long time this is something which can be missed. The parents are, rightly so, so focused on their child’s treatment and getting them better that the memories are often not recorded. However… thanks to our memory books, the Polaroid film we supply and the loving, caring approach of the wonderful team on the wards this is not a problem any more! When families are in hospital long term the staff make sure that they get pictures of all the important moments, print them off and they are added to the memory book for the family! Therefore the family have that all important resource, which they can look back on with their child when they are older and better!
- Many other donations which we know will make a difference to the time children and their families spend in hospital. We work really closely with the staff on the wards we help who let us know of any ideas they have that could impact on families time in their care – which is why there are many one-off donations in the gallery below!
