I work as a nurse in Sussex, and my passion has always been making acute care services better for Paediatric patients, their families and the staff caring for them. I first met the team from Rockinghorse whilst renovating the children's room in my A&E department. Rockinghorse were amazing! They supported us both financially and by encouraging our vision, their focus was always how to help us provide the very best experience and environment for our Paediatric patients and their families. 

I have since been fortunate enough to continue to receive their support, including toys and games for children in A&E and even the amazing amount of Easter eggs that filled the office and bought so much joy to the children attending A&E over the Easter weekend!

Rockinghorse Children's Charity has a special place in my heart as I see the amazing work they do to support services all over Sussex to help our littlest patients. I am looking to raise as much as possible by getting my trainers on and running at least 25kms for Rockinghorse over July... My plan is to run 5kms in 5 different beautiful places across Sussex! Many photo updates to follow! 

Rockinghorse has some very special projects at the moment which are detailed below and need our help!

Despite the current unprecedented situation, Rockinghorse Children’s Charity has pledged funding for three projects which all support different aspects of health provision for sick children and young people across the county.

Firstly, they are funding the purchase of 12 camp beds at the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital, so parents can stay with their children during their hospital stay. 

During the current Covid-19 virus situation, the Royal Alex need to use bed-spaces that they may not ordinarily have to use. They are also using more space than they would normally for sick children which means that there is little or no space for parent’s to be able to stay with their children.

A hospital stay can be scary for anyone, let alone a child, so knowing that they have the comfort and support of their parents being by their side is a great benefit to their recovery. These beds mean that instead of sleeping on a mattress on the floor, they will be able to get the rest they need to manage what can be a very stressful time.

Support for children with
lung conditions

The second project is to fund a second portable lung function machine for the children’s hospital to enable accurate diagnosis and treatment for children with a range of lung conditions such as asthma and cystic fibrosis

This machine will enable trained staff to obtain accurate, reliable and reproducible results, especially as the interface is so child friendly, in wards, outpatient clinics and urgent clinical reviews.

Additional mental health support

The final project is helping the patients at the Chalkhill Child and Adolescent Mental Health unit in Haywards Heath.

Recently staff at Chalkhill have had to dramatically scale back their programme of support as many of the activities involve people coming
to the hospital to deliver sessions, something that simply isn’t possible at the moment.

Understandably this is having a severe impact on the health and wellbeing of the young people in the hospital, causing additional anxiety and a decline in their mental health.

Rockinghorse are supporting the nursing staff and patients
at Chalkhill by helping them to purchase equipment such as iPads and tablets, personal DVD players, digital radios, art materials, sports equipment, books and DVDs, which the young people can use while in this time of isolation. Having ways to fill their leisure time is vital for young people already struggling with their mental health. 

Continued support is vital

Ryan Heal, Rockinghorse CEO, explains why continuing to help fund projects like this is so important in the current climate; “The NHS is under tremendous pressure and our funding is even more necessary than ever. However, like many other charities during this crisis, our funds are seriously depleted due to many of our fundraising events
being cancelled or postponed.

Continuing to support Rockinghorse is vital so that we can continue to help us keep our children’s hospital functioning to the high standards we want for our children at this crucial time. We hope people will remember us and join in with our ‘Be a Rockinghorse Hero’ campaign.

For more information, look on their Just Giving Page
at justgiving.com/campaign/rockinghorsehero or take a look at the website at
rockinghorse.org.uk

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