The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Locals rally to replace iPad in children’s ward
Appeal over missing gadget gets positive response
Nursing staff from the children’s unit at Ninewells Hospital have been left overwhelmed after generous locals rushed to replace a missing iPad.
Employees at the Dundee hospital put out an appeal after they realised an iPad from ward 29 – the Children’s High Dependency Unit – was missing.
A fundraising page was also set up to try to raise £300 towards the cost of buying a new one.
Within no time, locals and a nearby business arrived to deliver not just one but three iPads to lighten the stay for youngsters in the ward.
And in just 24 hours, the Just Giving page had also brought in £300.
Menzieshill resident Arthur Hayburn dropped in to the ward on Friday morning to hand over a spare iPad to senior charge nurse Catherine Borland.
He said he had recently bought a new device and wanted to pass on his old tablet to the ward to make it “a bit easier” for the children during their hospital stay.
Gill Milne and Blair Giacchetto from West Pitkerro Industrial Estate-based ECF Welding and Fabrication also handed over a new iPad the same day.
Patients Lois McCarroll, Lennox Mangan and Ann-Margaret Whyte said they were delighted to accept the iPad on behalf of the ward.
And to the staff’s shock and delight, yet another iPad was later handed in by a local student.
Kirstie Lawson, a child nursing student at Dundee University, said she had first-hand experience of how important the devices can be as she handed over the iPad to staff nurse Russel Ziton.
Ward 29 senior charge nurse Catherine Borland said the staff at the unit had been taken aback by the response.
She said: “On behalf of Tayside Children’s Hospital I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who has offered to help replace our missing iPad.
“We are over the moon with these donations and are so touched by the generosity of local people.
“These iPads will be very much appreciated by the children in our wards.”