Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity
We are delighted to announce that Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity have been awarded funds from the British Muslim COVID-19 Fund.
The funds will be contributing to providing support to the running costs of Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity (ECHC)during Covid-19 when all planned fundraising activity has ceased.
Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity have kindly prepared a press release: PressRelease-EdinburghChildrensHospital
We have also broadcast this on Twitter too!
ECHC receives no statutory funding. Children’s and families’ needs are changing all the time and ECHC are able to respond quickly. For now we are adapting services and existing resources to benefit children and families in the following ways:
- Food and toiletry packs for families leaving the hospital or those shielding at home.
- Not replacing foodbanks, these are short term emergency supplies for families in crisis due to the impact of coronavirus and their children’s illness. 1500 initial packs planned.
- Creative activity packs for vulnerable families shielding at home. Packs are full of fun and ideas, including board games, sketch pads, jigsaws, modelling clay, pencils, paper and books to distract children from pain, discomfort and loneliness. These are being delivered to homes by ECHC staff, nursing teams and volunteers. 750 initial packs planned.
- Art Studio Boxes for every child in Royal Hospital for Sick Children and CAMHS residential unit. Studio boxes will reduce the fear of isolation and encourage means of safe expression while admitted. Box themes include creative writing, painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography and magic.
- A ‘make your own’ gallery kit is included so children can easily hang their creations at their bedside, instantly making the clinical environment more homely and helping children express their interests and proudly display their achievements to their care teams. 700 initial Boxes planned.
- ECHC’s youth work and family support service has adapted to help families with their non-medical needs (including family relationship difficulties, loneliness, low self esteem, refusal to engage positively with medical treatment, parenting problems).
- Online and telephone individual and group work has replaced the traditional face to face support and signposting service. By working closely with the hospital and community based NHS teams the Project Workers are co-ordinating distribution of the food, toiletry and activity packs.
About Edinburgh Children’s Hospital:
Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity supports and complements the work of the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh.
Edinburgh Children’s Hospital Charity believes that nothing should get in the way of being a child and works to make sure children and young people’s lives are less interrupted by illness. It distributes around £1.5 million per year to support the Royal Hospital for Sick Children and other children’s healthcare settings across Scotland.