O’Gara pitches in for hospital fundraiser

Nearly 40 years after it was first built, a massive fundraising campaign has been launched to raise €1.5m to complete a makeover on Cork University Hospital’s (CUH) children’s unit.

CUH Charity is asking clubs, businesses, schools and people in Cork, Limerick, Kerry, Tipperary, Waterford, Clare and Kilkenny to get behind them by organising an event or fundraising initiative in aid of this appeal. Children from all these counties use the unit.

The refurbishment is part of a wider investment at CUH’s paediatric department as the Mercy University Hospital relocates its children’s unit and child leukaemia/ cancer services to the Wilton campus in 2014.

It’s hoped that capital funding will be released by the HSE next year to allow the construction of a two-storey extension over the existing CUH children’s ward to house the extended department. The amalgamation of the two units will mean that CUH’s paediatric department will be as big as Temple Street in Dublin.

Rugby star, Ronan O’Gara was on hand to kick off the refurbishment fundraising yesterday. Rugby analyst Donal Lenihan, horse trainer, Aidan O’Brien and acclaimed mountaineer, Dr Clare O’Leary are also backing the campaign.

Head of CUH’s paediatric department, Dr David Mullane, described the interior of the existing children’s ward as “dated” saying while the rest of the hospital had been upgraded over the years, the children’s children remained largely untouched.

“It’s less traumatic for children to be in hospital when they are staying in a bright, happy space. We want to make the unit more child friendly, brighter and cheerier and now is a good time to do it as the builders will be in anyway doing the extension,” he said.

Staff want to put in more ensuites, repaint the unit, install new lockers, update flooring, hang new curtains and replace the old bed linen. They also want to buy reclining chairs that parents can sleep overnight in and install fold-out beds in single rooms on the ward.

The CUH unit looks after children aged from two days to 16 year. Each year 7,500 children are admitted to the Children’s Unit at CUH, while 5,000 attend the day unit and 10,000 the outpatient department — making it one of busiest children’s units in the country.

The fundraising is being organised by the CUH Charity, was set up to fundraise across all the hospital departments.

Prof Michael Molloy, chairman of the CUH Charity, added: “This is a call to action for the children of Munster. It is the first time the children’s unit at CUH has appealed for funds and we are asking the wider community to support this appeal.”

* See www.cuhcharity.ie or follow Cork University Hospital Charity on Facebook. Donations can be made at directly at: www.mycharity.ie/charity/cuh/