New design to help children in hospital receives charitable status

The project received charitable status on March 1, and the pair have produced a promotional video on what would have been their daughters fourth birthday.

The chair is designed to improve the quality of life, well-being and rehabilitation of young children in intensive care. It has been designed to be used in paediatric beds to offer sit up and play time for children aged 8 months to 3.5 years.

Russ Banner aid: “The chair will help other children have better play experiences post surgery and enjoy quality interaction with the families. It also has therapeutic and physiological benefits for child patients.”

Connie was born with a congenital heart defect and underwent elective surgery. She had many complications post-surgery, so play time was limited to an external chair or pillows to support her posture.

From this experience, Russ came up with the idea for a chair which could slide into the paediatric cot allowing children that valuable time for play and family interaction

He adds: “Connie would have been able to have more quality playtime in her cot bed when she was well. She would have had upright time with us perhaps twice per day. That would have meant some water play, messy play, blocks and colouring play time on the tray table and interaction with us. In all, it would have improved her quality of life.”

The charitable status will help Russ and Vikki in their fundraising efforts to get the chair into all 22 paediatric intensive care hospitals and the 55 children's hospices.

Russ said: “Gaining charitable status means we can approach a wide range of funders to support the charity. It also affirms that this product is a necessity for hospitals and that without the help of the public we could not create it. Due to the short production run it would have been prohibitively expensive for hospitals to buy so would not have been made as a commercial product.”

Speaking on his daughter’s life, Russ said: “Connie was a wonderful daughter and loved her brother. She was a strong character who knew what she wanted. She never walked due to her heart condition but had excellent fine motor skills, which allowed her to colour, use stickers, play tea parties and get involved in water/messy play! Connie loved rabbits, sheep and chickens, and going for buggy rides with Henri on his bike beside her. She loved swimming times with her mummy and a 'musical bumps class' with instruments to shake and wiggle to. Connie was such a resilient little girl in the midst of the challenges she faced, particularly in her last months in hospital, after her second surgery.”

So far they have raised £14,000. You can support the development of the chair by donating to this cause. All proceeds will go towards trials, development of the product and producing over 200 units for paediatric hospitals and children's hospices in the UK. They need to raise over £200,000.

Donations can be made at www.conniemedicalchair.org