SICK CHILDREN in Irish hospitals will find receiving treatment a little less scary, thanks to the generosity of a Cork-based car company.
Dublin's Crumlin, Tallaght and Temple Street Children's Hospitals, as well as Cork's Bon Secours and Mercy University Hospital have all been gifted with motorised BMW cars to allow children to whizz their way through the corridors on their way from A&E to the X-Ray departments.
The cars were gifted by Cork-based company Keary's Motor Group, who say they did so "to make things any bit easier for the child" in the scary position of needing hospital treatment.
"Dr Quinn in Temple Street put out the call for cars for children receiving treatment in hospital," Director Brendan Keary tells us at The Irish Post.
"And Pat Phelan, who is a customer and a friend of ours here at Keary's, mentioned it to us and asked would we be interested in it.
"Of course we said said yes, we said we'd give two of them to Temple Street Children's Hospital. Then someone in Crumlin asked would we do two for them, we said of course!
"Then we got a nice few reminders that we should support our own in Cork-- you know how patriotic Cork people are! We couldn't leave them out, so we donated one to Cork University Hospital, the Mercy and the Bons Secours in Cork.
Thanks so much to @KearysBMW for the donation of two children's electric BMW's to the children's unit. @mariewats is definitely enjoying them and I'm sure all the children will too. pic.twitter.com/1XJGvETL7N
— Cork University Hosp (@CUH_Cork) October 2, 2020
"Getting the videos back of Anthony and a few other kids in the different hospitals has been amazing to see," Brendan said.
"I'm a father myself, and you know, you'd hope your kids never need to be in that position but if it makes their experience any bit easier at all, that's the only thing you can hope for.
Incredible scenes in Temple Street today as the cars arrived from @kearysmotors - the excitement!
Who better to take the test drive than our little hero Anthony ❤ driving to get his xray
Thank you so much @patphelan @CeoHardiman @nch_info @JD1879 The kids will have a ball ❤ pic.twitter.com/CP0yVllZmR— Nuala Quinn (@DrNualaQuinn) October 6, 2020
"It's not a nice situation but anything you can do to make it any bit more bearable for the child, that's why we're doing it really," Brendan continued.
"We're a family business and it seemed like the right thing to do.
"The videos are gorgeous. It was a nice thing to be able to do, and we loved seeing the kids happy in the cars. It worked out well for everybody."
Thank you @kearysmotors from everyone @Mercycork for this generous and fun gift of an electric BMW car for our youngest patients 👏 It will be both a practical and enjoyable distraction #ThisIsMercy #Cars4Kids @HSELive @HrSswhg pic.twitter.com/taRlM9hBcS
— Mercy University Hospital Cork (@Mercycork) October 2, 2020
Dr Nuala Quinn, Paediatric Emergency Medicine Consultant at Temple Street Children’s Hospital in Dublin, who put out the call for cars after seeing a similar campaign in the US and UK, said:
"Entering the doors of any A&E can be a traumatic experience for children and their parents and particularly anxious for everyone at these times, as we are all masked and gowned. This is both a practical and enjoyable distraction for children to drive themselves along the corridor to X-Ray and we greatly appreciate this special delivery from Kearys Motor Group."
Head of Paediatrics in Cork's Bon Secours Hospital, Dr Niamh Lynch, said the cars "bring great excitement and a little fun to the Paediatric Ward".
"Like everything, the car will be sanitised between use", she said, adding "the children will enjoy travelling in style!"
Anthony with staff at Temple Street (Image: Dr Nuala Quinn, Twitter)"After this year, the country has realised who the real heroes are, and its not footballers or movie stars," Brendan told The Irish Post.
"The people in the hospitals are the heroes, it's just a small thing we're doing.
"They're the ones looking after people every day."
