Stollery Children's Hospital - Fish Tank Campaign

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by SanguinesDream

Regardless of the equipment for physical needs, people tend to lose focus on the mental needs of the patient. The tension is high in these units from both the staff and parents. The child, unknowingly, feeds off of that stress causing actual physical harm to the healing process.

I agree with a lot of what you say, and especially the above comment. I've posted a couple of suggestions to reduce the stress on the parents, with utility type activities. As the parent, I can tell you this would help us a lot more than fish. I don't care about fish, I care the the Dr. just told me to be prepared for the worst. How do I not transfer that to my daughter? Fish aren't going to help.
I do agree that some sort of interaction would be great, so I suggested a biocube. Kids love Nemo, so set up a Nemo tank. Easy, cheap, maintainable.
We spent this Christmas Eve baking and soliciting Starbucks for coffee and took goodies and coffee to the staff and parents in the PEDs ICU. Pretty sure they enjoyed that more than Nemo It reduces the stress, makes the staff feel appreciated, helps the parents relax a bit knowing others know exactly what it's like to be stuck in the hospital with a sick kid. Cost me a bag of flour, some chocolate chips, a bit of gas and some time. Value= Priceless to the recipients.
Yes, the idea of a large reef on the ward is wonderful, but it's not practical. There are multiple stake holders, any one of which doing less than their part results in a total meltdown of the system. If I walked onto the ward and saw a 600g reef, I'd be awestruck. For 2 minutes. But if the hospital didn't have a 4.0 peds trach and my kid's is plugged, I'd be mad for a lot longer.
There are just so many better options to help. The tank idea is fine, but make it manageable. 50g or less. Look at some of the nanos we have posted here, they're just incredible. 600g @ 50k is wasteful and inappropriate for it's intention.