The Childrens Unit Presentation

Five of us made the trip down to Musgrove Park Hospital. Brian, his son Alex and his partner Theresa, Sheila and myself were met at the main door by Katherine Farmer. Katherine is the senior sister at the childrens unit. The unit has two wards, Acorn and Oak. After some formalities we were shown to Acorn ward which is where my granddaughter is treated.

Here we had our first presentation of the cheque.


L to R. Theresa, unit nurses, unit patient and his mum, Katherine Farmer, Alex and myself.
A very comforting thought was that the two wards were relatively empty but eight children were allowed home earlier this evening so that was good news.
Next came the bit i was looking forward to, last week i told Katherine that would have an extra surprise for her. This was when i presented her with the picture, to say they were astounded was an understatement. They loved it, especially after i had explained how the picture was chosen.




Katherine told us what they will be spending the money on.
These are Oxygen saturation monitors.



They measure heart rates and the percentage of Oxygen in the blood stream and cost in the region of £800 each.



With the funds raised by you means that the unit can now almost buy two very much updated versions which are £1100 each. One is on order now and one will be in the very near future. The machine they have ordered is high spec version, this has a extra screen with a graph on it, which shows you if the sensor has a good reading, if it shows a bad reading you know to move the sensor to a different part of the body. This makes sure they get perfect readings and therefore can accurately show what treatment the child needs. The machines they have to buy on their budget does not have this feature.
We were then taken on a tour of the two wards, it makes you appreciate what it takes to keep these places going and the sterling work that the nurses do for the children.
All in all a very enjoyable evening and a big thanks to Brian for coming to take the photos.
basil.