The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Sharron helps lead revamp of children’s hospital ward
A children’s ward at Peterborough City Hospital has benefitted from a revamp thanks to the industrious efforts of a kind-hearted Tesco employee.
Sharron Toms, who is a community champion at the Serpentine Green store, has been the driving force behind a campaign to help improve facilities on the hospital’s Amazon Ward.
The dynamic supermarket worker felt compelled to act after Zoe Wilkinson, Amazon Ward’s play service coordinator, reached out with a request.
“Zoe messaged us to see if we [Tesco] could make a donation to help refresh and revamp the parents’ rooms,” Sharron explained.
Though moved by Zoe’s situation,Sharron was not immediately able to offer the assistance the hospital needed.
“I initially messaged her back and said ‘I really can’t do anything about it because I don’t have that kind of budget’,” Sharron recalled.
The community champion admitted that rejecting the hospital’s request didn’t sit well. It played on my mind and I thought: ‘It’s not right, we’ve got to do something’.”
Sharron hit upon the bright idea of asking groups who use Tesco’s Community Room at Hampton for help. The well-equipped venue serves as a de-facto base for photography, boxing and motorbiking clubs, as well as yoga,
table tennis and children’s care groups.
“I said ‘let’s do something
good for someone’ – and they all agreed.”
The groups clubbed together to buy a host of kitchen apparatus and furniture items the hospital could use to upgrade the parent areas within Amazon Ward, something that hadn’t been done for more than 13 years.
“What Sharron was able to do was magnificent,” said Zoe.
All of the family areas, including the kitchens and the bedrooms where parents of chronically unwell children have to stay overnight, have benefitted from new items, including kitchen tables, crockery, bedside cabinets, cutlery and chairs.
“It really will make a big difference to the families who have to come on to the ward,” Zoe said. Sharron, who also managed to arrange complimentary doughnuts from Krispy Kreme, and get everything delivered for free by CarWorld, said it was an “absolute pleasure” to help “such a worthy cause.”