Nightclub cash to help take stress out of hospital visits

The organisations have been helped by Paul Stray, former general manager of Liquid Nightclub, based in Halifax town centre, who recommended the Eureka! partnership as a candidate for funding to the Echo Trust last year.

The Trust, is the charitable funding arm of Liquid nightclub’s parent company, Luminar Leisure. Thanks to its £5000 grant, the Trust has become the lead funder for the waiting room.

‘‘Everyone at Liquid is delighted that our customers’ generosity through our fundraising initiatives can support such a worthy cause’’, said Adrian Broadhead, the present general manager at Liquid.

He added: ‘‘We are all looking forward to seeing the new waiting room up and running.’’

Eureka! and Royal Calderdale Hospital are aiming to redesign the Accident and Emergency paediatric waiting room to create a place where children and adults can feel more comfortable and to make a visit to the hospital a little less stressful.

Projects director Tudor Gwynn, who has been driving the scheme forward, said: ‘‘No matter what the circumstances, a visit to the A&E can be a challenging experience for a child.

‘‘We want to take the experiences we’ve had at Eureka! with play-based learning and apply them to create a fun and welcoming place where children are able to switch their focus away from the stress of a visit to the hospital.’’

Eureka! is working with hospital staff to create a flexible environment that is comfortable for families to use and staff to work in.

The museum says it has now completed a consultation with staff and visitors which recorded positive feedback around opportunities for play and the use of role play to introduce the hospital and staff.

The project is in the early stages of fund-raising, and the intention is to begin work as soon as the £36,000 fund-raising target has been met. The team hopes to have finished raising money by the autumn, for a potential completion date of January next year. Eureka! is designed especially for children aged under 11 so they can learn about themselves and the world.