By Ellen Blessington | Fundraising and Communications Officer
We want to say a big thank you for your very kind support of our work through GlobalGiving. At Theodora Children’s Charity we improve children’s experience of hospital by combining music, play and storytelling. Our 33 Giggle Doctors increase opportunities for play in hospitals by bringing magical Giggle Doctor moments to children at a time when they need it most. We have been visiting children in hospitals, hospices and specialist care centres across England for 26 years.
During their visits our Giggle Doctors aim to:
Each interaction is tailored to the child and the Giggle Doctor visits are designed to provide whatever the child needs at the time, whether it’s a joke, a song or simply companionship.
We get so much wonderful feedback from the families of the children we visit and, to show the impact of your support, we would like to take the opportunity to share some of it with you.
“My son was lucky enough to get a visit from Dr Dotty when he was waiting to go down for surgery! She came just as he had had enough of waiting and was getting very hungry and fed up! It made his day and ours! Something we will always remember!” – A Parent
We work closely with hospital staff to monitor the quality of our work through regular meetings. We collect feedback from children’s families through our online survey which is open all year round. This provides us with detailed information about the impact of the Giggle Doctor visits. We also carry out in depth interviews with parents of children who have been seen by the Giggle Doctors and who are keen to share their story with us. Through this we are able to learn more about their child and the impact our visits have had.
How your support helps children in hospital
As our Giggle Doctors are currently unable to visit children in hospital due to Covid-19, we have adapted our Giggle Doctor Programme to be available digitally to bring joy and laughter to children in hospital at a time when it is needed most.
With our Giggle Doctor Virtual Visits, we aim to provide the same service, but through a screen instead of in person. Our Giggle Doctors have been online every week, and parents are able to visit our website and book a time slot to connect with the Giggle Doctor via a Whats App Video Call on their phone or tablet. Our Giggle Doctors are also creating Giggle-a-Grams, which are personalised Giggle Doctor videos that you can request for your child. Since launching our digital programme our Giggle Doctors have had over 150 Virtual Visits and Giggle-a-Grams!
“Thanks so much. That was fantastic. We've not heard him laugh like that for a long time. You are doing something so special here!” – A Parent
We are so grateful for your generous support, which has allowed us to continue bringing fun and laughter to children in hospital at a time when it is most needed.
If you have any questions or would like to find out more about our work, please feel free to email ellen.blessington@theodora.org
Links:
By Ellen Blessington | Fundraising Officer
By Ellen Blessington | Fundraising Officer
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