The response to Hemmens’s call for action resulted some months later in her founding the Association for the Welfare of Children in Hospital (Ireland) later renamed Children in Hospital in Ireland(CHI), which will celebrate its golden anniversary next year. Since its foundation, the charity has been intent on making hospitals a happier place for sick children and their families. Children in Hospital in Ireland chief executive Anna Gunning says that financial hardship and waiting lists are the two big concerns for parents. Photograph: Alan BetsonThe hospital’s deputy director of nursing, Fionna Brennan, says CHI volunteers “are in the fibre of what we do every day”. With its own team of professional play specialists, the hospital believes play is what children do and what they need to be able to do, Brennan adds.

Source: The Irish Times October 29, 2019 06:00 UTC