Over the last couple of weeks, we have enjoyed spreading some festive cheer to children at Leeds Children’s Hospital, Airedale Hospital and Bradford Royal Infirmary who won’t be able to spend time at home for Christmas.
It’s hard to have a child in hospital at any time but being in hospital over Christmas is especially difficult for families. Through the Sovereign Health Care Community Programme, we approached the hospitals in a bid to try and make the festive season a little easier for them by donating hundreds of gifts to children, ranging from small babies to teens.
Staff at the hospitals have gone to great lengths to give these children an enjoyable Christmas despite their circumstances, adding toys to an Amazon Wishlist from bubble machines to fibre optic lamps and board games. Chief Executive, Russ Piper, had the privilege of delivering the gifts to the hospitals and reflected on his own experience of having a child in hospital over Christmas:
“During 1998, a two night stay in hospital with one of my children turned into a 3 month stay, which meant we were in hospital over Christmas and New Year. Health and becoming ill does not make allowances for individuals backgrounds and their financial situations and although the hospital did their best to make Christmas special, they do need help.
Having seen the positive impact it can have on the children, I thought it a good idea to make these donations this year to try and improve a challenging situation, albeit only slightly. For children, Christmas is a very special time and I hope we have managed to put a smile on a young child or their sibling’s face this year.”