WOWSERS, what a week.!!!
We started in our usual way, content creating, researching and attending meetings but, two of these meetings were a tad different to our usual.
Firstly I had a wonderful phone call with the brilliant author Emma Juhasz!!!
Emma writes on her website…
“As an educational author and writer for young children, I carve complex topics into a format that children can easily grasp, offering them an insight into environments that they may find hard to understand.
My unique and inspiring content can be translated into any topic or format.
Let me help you captivate, entertain and educate young readers to learn more and ignite their imaginations!”
Thankfully Emma’s next book needed a little of Awesome Archie’s autism life experience.
Now, we aren’t going to spill any tea (obvs) but it is a really exciting connection for us. Emma’s “reach” is vast and so to feel a small part of her next creation is a real honour.
Thankyou Emma, looking forward to our next chat 🙂
Please check out her brilliant work here ➡ https://emmajuhasz.com/
Awesome Archie Has Surgery has been selected for the £1.5m fundraiser “The BEACH Appeal.”
Cast your mind back a few months and you may remember that our gorgeous Archie had some minor surgery in Poole hospital. The operation itself was uncomplicated but the lead up for us was a tough part. I spent a long time illustrating a social story to help support Archie and grow his understanding of the procedure and what to expect.
Thankfully Archie’s surgery not only went swimmingly, but the care and attention given by the Bearwood ward staff was just incredible. So incredible in fact that we decided to turn our illustrations into a book to thank the team! We also hoped that it may support other families like ours in the future.
We had NO idea where this little gesture would lead…
Archie has been invited to be one of the faces to help promote The BEACH Appeal and our book is being ordered by the hospital to distribute to children in pre-op ❤. For Archie and I, this is a dream come true! We are so immensely grateful!
The BEACH Appeal
What is The BEACH Appeal?
In April 2024, University Hospitals Dorset NHS Charity launched a £1.5million fundraising campaign, named The BEACH Appeal, to transform care for Dorset.
The charity is fundraising to provide additional items for the brand new six-storey building, the BEACH Building, which is based at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital.
It is known as the BEACH Building as it reflects the services in the building – Birth, Emergency, Critical Care and Children’s Health.
The building is the size of 115 tennis courts, and will be open to the public in 2025.
Why is it important?
The NHS will provide the necessities for the BEACH building. However, our charity aspires to enhance the building by fundraising for items which are above and beyond NHS provision. Our team has worked closely with clinical leads to determine items which will provide the greatest benefit to our patients. Items identified include an additional CT scanner, a wellbeing garden for our critical care unit, mood lighting for our maternity suite, enhancements to mental health rooms in our ED, and an onsite classroom.
We have been amazed at the public response to the appeal so far. To date (12/09/2024) we have raised an incredible £280k towards our target. We have received many generous gifts from individuals, grants from trusts and foundations, and in memory of loved ones, as well as a £50k donation from the local bus operator morebus. Many local groups, such as Poole Town Football Club and a local craft group called Crafting Grannies, have supported us through hosting events.
However, we have a long way to go to reach our target of £1.5 million. We are calling everybody across Dorset to come together to help raise funds to enhance our hospitals. The BEACH Appeal is a once-in-a generation opportunity for us to transform care together for everybody across Dorset.
Clearly you can see that Archie and I are so proud and excited to be a small part of this amazing effort!
So, until December 2025, we will now be focussing ALL of our fundraising efforts for The BEACH Appeal as we want ALL children to have an education and FUN…. even when faced with long stays in hospital!
There are lots of little events in the pipeline and we will keep you posted however, if you want to check it out or donate right now….hers the link!
https://www.uhdcharity.org/current-projects/beach-appeal/
Right, time for a coffee;)
Stay AWESOME!!!