Our latest Star Award winner is Clinical Support Worker, Stacey Bywater, who picked up the award for her hard work in fundraising for a new children's waiting area in Orthopaedic Outpatients.
Stacey has been working towards this goal for a year, organising various fundraising events including bake sales, raffles, toy sales, Christmas hampers and she even completed the Yorkshire Three Peaks challenge to help raise funds. So far, she has managed to raise an incredible £5,000 which will be used to fund a new under the sea themed wall mural. There are also plans to change the flooring to make it look like sand to further bring the theme to life, and to also re-stock the toy cupboard with new toys.
Stacey said: "I felt moved to create a dedicated waiting area for our young patients after an experience which made me realise how much better we could make our department for children. A four year old boy attended about a year ago with his mum, and we were going to have to give them the news that he had cancer. We planned to tell the mum first and to take the boy to an area where we could distract him with toys whilst his mum was with other staff members.
"When I went to the toy cupboard, I found that a lot of the toys were broken, or not suitable. I felt really emotional about this and it prompted me to start the process of funding a new children's waiting area.
"Hospitals can be scary and very daunting for children who don't always understand everything that's going on around them. We don't want them to be scared and hopefully a bright, colourful waiting area won't look like a hospital and will help to distract our young patients, especially if they have additional needs."
Stacey was nominated by Orthopaedic Consultant, Mohamed Elnaggar, who said: "Stacey has led the team and has done all of this by herself, driven by such a beautiful and good cause. Her enthusiasm has been a role model to us all. She has gone above and beyond, showing a vivid example of our Trust values and behaviours of Compassionate Care, One Culture of Care, teamwork and innovation.
"All of our orthopaedic colleagues recognise her dedication, commitment and most importantly - her kind soul."
Donations to the children's waiting rea can be made through our Charity. You can nominate someone for a Star Award here.