$50,000 Donation to support the Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation is Cops for Kids single largest donation and it brings up another amazing milestone… $2,000,000 donated to SA Charities!
Board Members Drew Bynoe, Martin Burke and Matthew Schar met with Paul Morton from the Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation in August 2023 and presented him with a cheque for $50,000. The $50,000 dollar donation will be used to purchase equipment to be used in the Women’s and Children’s Hospital and fund additional medical studies.
Research has shown that the use of Smileyscope VR Headsets to immerse paediatric patients in a virtual reality adventure, coupled with the assistance of a WCH Play therapist, during medical procedures can reduce pain by 60%, reduce anxiety by 40%, reduces the need for children to be restrained and delivers better overall outcomes. Part of the funding is being used to purchase two of these Smileyscope VR Headsets (https://www.smileyscope.com.au). The VR headsets reduce the trauma on the patients and any opportunity to reduce the pain and anxiety experienced by children is worthwhile.
Funds are also being used to purchase specialised development toys for Speech and Occupational Therapy patients. The purpose designed toys are for use during therapy sessions with parents to assist children to develop language and motor skills through play. The toys create a pleasant and welcoming environment for the children during therapy which can be scary and uncomfortable and facilitates the parents and children to interact and develop.
Children’s poor sleep can have long term detrimental impacts on their development. There are currently more than 300 children waiting for Polysomnography Sleep Studies in South Australia resulting in primary school aged children waiting over two years to be assessed. Your donation from Cops for Kids will be used to bridge the service delivery gap and to provide a timely diagnostic service to kids who suffer poor sleep. Given the impact a child’s poor sleep can have on schooling, their health and their immediate family, this will improve learning success, their development and general overall wellbeing.
Almost every sick child in South Australia who needs hospital treatment goes to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital. As such, Cops for Kids has had a long relationship with the Women’s & Children’s Foundation dating back to 2007. This $50,000 donation to the Women’s & Children’s Hospital Foundation will support these services, enhance the lives of children in South Australia and increases the total amount of money donated by the Cops for Kids membership to over two million dollars to South Australian charities.
