Lisa raises funds for Edinburgh’s Sick Kids
Lisa Quarrell, a mum-of-two, visited the Royal Hospital for Sick Children (RHSC) in Edinburgh this week to hand over a state-of-the-art piece of equipment to help reduce children’s fear of needles.
Lisa, who’s from East Kilbride, is a familiar face at the hospital after her brave son Cole was admitted to the Paediatric Neurology ward at just two years old to receive treatment for epilepsy. Now three, Cole was just three months old when he first started taking seizures.
Cole was admitted to the RHSC in Edinburgh to undergo a lesionectomy on his left temporal lobe. During this time, little Cole had bloods taken twice a day, every day. On top of epilepsy treatment and examinations, these examinations proved to be extremely stressful for baby Cole, mum Lisa and dad David.
Lisa said: “It was very difficult to find Cole’s veins as they would collapse a lot of the time. The trauma of this made Cole extremely needle phobic. Twice a day, we would have to hold him in place for up to 20 minutes, until we could find a vein and get the blood sample that the nurses required.
“It was heart-breaking for me to watch Cole experience this level of fear over the needles and I was desperate to do something to help the nurses and other patients have an easier time when it came to this essential treatment. When the Ward 7 nurses told me about the AccuVein device it seemed like the perfect solution and I knew I wanted to fundraise for this great piece of kit.”
The state-of-the-art AccuVein device, worth more than £3,500, shines a special light over a child’s body to reveal the veins located underneath the skin. This technique allows nurses to carry out any needle-based procedures more quickly and accurately than ever before, vastly improving what is a traumatic experience for so many children.
The Sick Kids Friends Foundation (SKFF), which exists to transform the experiences of children visiting hospital, has also invested almost £5,000 to fund this vein illumination device and other innovative equipment to help reduce children’s anxiety around needles across the hospital.
Lisa continued: “It’s amazing the difference one small instrument can make to a child’s experience in hospital and I’m so happy to see the first AccuVein device I fundraised for go to good use in Ward 7. I’m hoping to fund a further four devices in the next few months so that more children than ever before can benefit.”
Roslyn Neely, Chief Executive of the Sick Kids Friends Foundation, said: “At the SKFF we believe that nothing should get in the way of being a child, this includes small procedures like injections, blood samples and cannulation which can be extremely stressful for young children.
“We’re extremely grateful to Lisa and her entire family for their help in bringing this equipment to the ward floors – we’re already seeing the positive impact it is having for patients, families and the nursing staff across the hospital.”
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