We are incredibly grateful to The Kenora Charitable Foundation for their support of The Grand Appeal’s work in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at St Michael’s Hospital in Bristol.
Through our Cots for Tots Appeal, we are committed to ensuring that every sick or premature baby from across the South West has access to the very best care. We also support the families of these babies through an unimaginably difficult time.
Overview
Over the last year, our grant from The Kenora Charitable Foundation has funded three bedrooms in Cots for Tots House – our dedicated accommodation for families from outside of Bristol with a baby in the NICU. This comfortable home-from-home provides exhausted families with completely free accommodation where they can get some rest and recharge while their baby is in hospital, all in the peace of mind that they are just a stone’s throw from the NICU.
“Coming into Cots for Tots House was like being welcomed into a warm embrace. It was such a calm, peaceful environment. It felt quite humbling, knowing all this help was right there for us.”
Funded Music Therapy
The Kenora Charitable Foundation has also generously funded our music therapy service on NICU over the last year. Music therapy is incredibly valuable to babies while they are in hospital, with evidence showing that sessions can improve oxygen saturation and heart rate. Music therapy can also support attachment and bonding by providing precious moments of connection between parents and their new baby.
“In NICU, we witnessed first-hand the impact of music therapy. [Preston’s] heart rate was always really high because he was so poorly, but every session, you could see it dropping on his stats screen, meaning he was relaxed and calm and loving it.
Amongst a sea of traumatic experiences, the music therapy sessions were the little lights that kept us all going – especially for Preston.”
Thank you to the Kenora Charitable Foundation for your wonderful support.
