Posts Tagged :

Children’s hospital

Toys Hospital Visit Spread a Smile Hasbro

Visit to Southampton Children’s Hospital

 780 400 Gabrielle Devine
By:

For International Day of Play on 11 June, the Spread a Smile team took to the road to make a special in-person visit to Southampton Children’s Hospital, bringing moments of joy and laughter to the wards.

We were joined by our wonderful friends at Hasbro, who generously volunteered their time and donated toys to give out to patients and be used in communal play sessions, to help make the day as fun as possible.

Spread a Smile magicians Lee and Nick, Fairy Kirsten and singer Tasha all brought the usual Spread a Smile magic to the visit, reaching over 50 patients across the wards and spreading smiles, happiness and laughter.

Fiona Delement, Health Play Specialist at Southampton Children’s Hospital said,

“The Spread a Smile visit was fantastic! Your team was amazing, so kind, caring and completely understood the way hospitals work. They were patient and understanding and fantastic at their jobs. They definitely did what it said on their t-shirts – the smiles were great to see, and we had such lovely comments from staff and families. My highlights were hearing belly laughter from the children who weren’t keen to start with and the little girl in ED who asked if she could sing for us.”

At Spread a Smile, we recognise the important role of play for children and young people in hospital. During times of isolation and vulnerability, when access to play might be limited, we aim to provide moments of distraction, and happiness. We see play as a key part of their well-being and recovery.

Our sincere thanks to Hasbro for their generosity, both in their toy donations and the support of their volunteers on the day. We are extremely proud of this wonderful partnership.

Sign up to our newsletter here to stay up to date with all things Spread a Smile.

In-person visit to Nottingham

 780 400 Susie
By:

The Spread a Smile team recently brought joy to NHS partner, Nottingham Children’s Hospital with the first of our regular in-person visits to children on the wards

Spread a Smile has been supporting young patients at the hospital since 2021, spreading smiles through virtual sessions and seasonal activities such as treat drops. We’re delighted to be expanding our support to include monthly in-person visits by our talented team of entertainers, ensuring we can reach even more seriously ill children and young people when they need it most.

Spending time in hospital can be really challenging for children, especially when they’re missing school, friends, family and their usual activities. That’s why our entertainer visits are so important – providing laughter and entertainment, plus opportunities to build relationships and connections with others. Fairy Becca and Judge the Poet spent the day meeting patients, sharing songs poetry and chats and bringing the usual Spread a Smile sparkle across the wards.

Spread a Smile also recently donated one of our special libraries, full of books suitable for all ages and abilities for families with children on the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) to borrow and enjoy The donated is part of our Intensive Care Library Project which has seen us deliver libraries to 14 NHS hospital partners across the country, helping to provide meaningful distraction and engagement to families with seriously ill children.

To stay up to date with all the things Spread a Smile, please sign up for our monthly e-newsletter.

Alternatively, if you’d like to support our visits, you can make a monthly donation here.

Spread a Smile in-person visit to Southampton Children's Hospital

In-person visit to Southampton

 780 400 Susie
By:

Spread a Smile is proud to have been supporting patients on the Piam Brown oncology ward at Southampton Children’s Hospital through virtual visits since 2020. Earlier this month a team of Spread a Smile entertainers made our first in-person visit to the hospital, meeting 64 patients and spreading smiles and laughter across all of the paediatric inpatient wards.

Spread a Smile in-person visit to Southampton Children's HospitalOur team included fairies, Judge the Poet, Mr Magic and Sar with her guitar, bringing so much fun and many moments of distraction for the children and families we met.

We were joined by our friends from Hasbro who brought games, Play-Doh and colouring for patients to enjoy. Where they were able to, patients were invited to join us to participate in lots of board game and creative fun and the team also visited the wards to give out goody bags and Play-Doh to children who couldn’t leave their beds.

Victoria Torpey-Thomas, Playleader at Southampton Children’s Hospital told us, “We are extremely grateful to the wonderful Spread a Smile team and Hasbro for providing such a wonderfully fun time here at UHS. They created so many smiles and giggles not only to the patients but also their families and staff. It was so lovely to see their faces when the entertainers performed their many talents and the guys from Hasbro offered them their gifts. Even numerous days later patients, families and staff are still expressing how great you all were and the massive difference you made to everyone on the day. Thank you all so very much”

Thank you to everyone at Southampton Children’s Hospital for making us so welcome. Also, to Hasbro for giving up their time and supporting the visit, as well as Dorian Laurence and Momentum in Fitness charity, for generously funding the visit and joining us on the day to present the cheque.

To find out more about our services and hospitals we support, please click here.