Rob and Naomi with their toy delivery
After successfully bidding for some new toys for their new clinic, the Audiology Team at the Royal Alex have an early Christmas!
During our recent Projects Day at the Royal Alex, audiologist Naomi Austin presented her pitch for some funding to help the department she works in.
The Audiology Team works with children from new-born to the age of 18, carrying out hearing assessments and supporting children and young people with all aspects of hearing issues.
After many years of planning, the department is moving into a new clinical space on level 4 of the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital, increasing the department from one to four assessment rooms.
Rob, Laura and Charlotte unpacking the new toys
This new space is wonderful, with purpose-built sound-proof rooms, and has been equipped with all the technical equipment the team need to carry out their work. But one thing they are missing is some new toys for the department.
Toys might seem like an extravagant extra, especially at the moment, but they are incredibly important for the team as they are used every day to help diagnose and treat the children they see.
As Dr Rob Low, Consultant Paediatric Audiologist explains, “We use a variety of toys appropriate to each age group which allow us to either maintain the child’s attention, or provide a fun way to respond to hearing a sound when pushing a button would be boring.
“Toys are fundamental to our clinical practice. We use them with each and every child that we test and also some young people with learning difficulties or developmental delay.”
Laura checking out one of the new items
Last year the team saw over 1,700 children within the department, and with their new facilities this number is likely to increase to more than 2,000. Which is why the Project Committee her at Rockinghorse felt this was a really important project to fund.
So earlier this week Sarah and Alex from the Rockinghorse team delivered boxes of toys to a really excited Audiology Team!
When they arrived, Rob, Naomi, Laura Sanderson and Charlotte Morris (the four paediatric team leads) were really excited to open them.. The first thing Laura said was, “It’s like Christmas!”
She went on to add, “Having these amazing toys is really going to make such a difference to our clinics. All we had was a really tired set of toys that were really battered and definitely at the end of their useful life.
“But having these brightly coloured, exciting new things will really improve the experience for children attending the service and allow us to diagnose, treat and care for all our patients in the best way possible!
“Thanks so much to Rockinghorse for funding everything.”
