By Clare Conroy | Fundraising and Communications Coordinator
You may have noticed we have now changed our name from Theodora Children’s Trust to Theodora Children’s Charity. We decided to rebrand in order to make our purpose clearer. In the past, the charity name has confused some people. We wanted to make it clear that we are a charity, rather than a trust that issues grants – which has never been the case.
In December 2014 we started visits to Leeds General Infirmary and have received some excellent feedback already…
“I just wanted to say a big thank you to the Giggle Doctors for cheering my baby girl up at LGI on Monday. Marianne is 9 months old and is usually a bright & breezy baby however due to a nasty virus it was sad for us to see her lethargic, working hard to breathe and very quiet.
When the Giggle Doctors visited the ward we had just found out that the doctors wanted us to stay in hospital overnight so I had started to worry about how serious things might be. Even though Marianne wasn’t very ‘with it’, I thought at least she would enjoy watching the Giggle Doctors entertaining the other children on the ward.
Dr Bungee came up to us & started to show Marianne some tricks with his hat & she watched him, intrigued. A few tricks later & she burst out laughing! It was such a surprise as I didn’t even think she had the energy to laugh. But this was just the start, as Dr Bungee carried on Marianne laughed more and more and by the time he made the bubbles squeak as he popped them Marianne was full on belly-laughing. It was such a gorgeous noise & its contagious effect had the whole room giggling along. It was such a relief for me to see a glimpse of my little girl & to know that for this brief moment she was having fun and that her body was feeling that lovely glow of having a good laugh.
Thank you Dr Bungee for your much needed dose of laughter, it certainly proved to be the best medicine for us on that day. We are home now and happy to say that Marianne is steadily getting better.”
We have also received some great feedback from a recent hospital survey…
“The children are completely absorbed by the visits from the Giggle Doctors. The Giggle Doctors are very sensitive to the children and vary their interactions dependent on the child and the response they receive. The result is the children are completely engaged during their time with the Giggle Doctors, often responding, smiling or visually tracking the movement.”
“We all adore the Giggle Doctors. They are very much part of our team and indeed the hospital.”
“The visits help the children to forget about their worries and anxieties for a while”
“One little girl who had been in hospital for a couple of days only smiled for the Giggle Doctors. Also on a five bedded bay on the ward every parent commented on how good the Giggle Doctor had been during her visit to the ward.”
“Every visit is an experience and brings its own occasion every time”
Thank you so much for making all these magical moments possible
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