Bayfair And Community Donations Help To Kit Out Hospital

Media Release December 2011

Bayfair And Community Donations Help To Kit Out Hospital

With only a couple of weeks until Christmas, Bayfair Shopping Centre is celebrating the gift of giving early, by helping to raise funds for new equipment and furniture that will adorn adolescent rooms at Tauranga Hospital and Whakatane Hospital. Tauranga Hospital’s adolescent room is due to be complete in March 2012, with Whakatane Hospital’s adolescent room to follow as a long term project.

“After visiting Tauranga Hospital and speaking with the fantastic staff working on the paediatric ward, it appeared to us that adolescent patients would really benefit from having additional equipment to use during their stay,” says Bayfair marketing manager Nina Rivett. “We would like to help enrich the experiences these young people have while they are in hospital, and it is a pleasure to be able to work with the Bay of Plenty DHB to make this happen.”

Bayfair will help to raise the funds through the services that shoppers enjoy during the busy festive season, including gift wrapping and photos with Santa. $1 from every Scene to Believe Santa photo package purchase will be donated to a newly created fund for the equipment, with Bayfair matching dollar-for-dollar donations made to the fund.

Members of the Bayfair management team and Tauranga DHB staff will also be utilising one of the community gift wrapping days, to wrap presents for shoppers in return for gold coin donations.

“We see this as a unique opportunity to give something back, while finding an easy way for our shoppers to support a worthy cause,” say Ms Rivett.

Tauranga Hospital paediatrician Dr Kendall Crossen says it has been well established that play is therapeutic for children when they are unwell, but teenagers seem to get lost in the picture. “The adolescent room will give young people a space of their own where they can express themselves and also have some fun.

“We are grateful to Bayfair for its support in helping to raise the money to purchase equipment for the new adolescent rooms. It will make a huge difference to the experience these young people have while they undergo inpatient care.”

With the help of adolescent patients, Tauranga Hospital play specialist Debbie McDougall was able to compile a wish list, including iPads, Nintendo Wii games and controllers, books, games, a DVD player and DVDs, magazine subscriptions, a laptop, iTunes vouchers and arts and craft products.

“We wanted our adolescent patients to be involved as much as possible when it came to deciding what they would like to see in the new room. We have surveyed 30 long term and frequent patients and have come up with a wish list I am sure they will be very pleased with,” says Ms McDougall.

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