Decals bring joy and comfort to children at Hawke’s Bay Hospital

Hawke’s Bay Hospital play specialist Pamela McCullough is happy with the new decals after leading the charge in brightening up the children’s ward treatment rooms from start to finish.

A Hawke’s Bay-based business, Your Decal Shop, has joined Hawke’s Bay Hospital to completely cover two children’s ward treatment rooms with Kiwiana-themed decals, brightening the walls and making sick children’s time at the hospital a little more colourful.

Changing the once-sterile white treatment room walls to bright colourful decals was a no-brainer for the hospital, said Hawke’s Bay Hospital play specialist Pamela McCullough, as it would not only be more inviting but could help decrease stress levels for patients going through invasive medical procedures.

McCullough led the charge for a bit of colour in the rooms and said they were now “beautiful, therapeutic, natural spaces providing links to the environment and animals that people can connect with”.

Your Decal Shop worked day and night in partnership with Hawke’s Bay Hospital staff to get the ward’s new decals perfect.

While being nice to look at, “play specialists can now use the walls as part of children’s procedural care plans, for example as a means of distraction to support distressed children. By giving children something to focus on and engage with, we can help decrease their stress levels and anxieties.”

Play specialists are qualified early childhood education teachers who work with tamariki and whānau to help them understand what is happening and why.

This is often done through a therapeutic play session in the playroom or at the child’s bedside. Play specialists also prepare and support children during medical procedures.

Children at the Hawke’s Bay Hospital already love the new decal-covered walls.

This is why, after working on the pediatric ward for 15 years, McCullough knew staff would be able to further decrease stress levels if they could make the environment as friendly as possible for “our littlest consumers”.

“This is a unique project as it was instigated and implemented by the play specialist service, utilising funding from the Ministry of Education.

“The decals exceeded our expectations and we may look into raising funds for more decals in the pediatric ward. It was a pleasure working with Your Decal Shop staff who understood our vision.”

New Kiwiana-themed decals are a big hit in the Hawke’s Bay Hospital pediatric ward.

Your Decal Shop founder and director Antony Clark said the decals highlighted the creativity of the team but also showed the importance of community collaboration.

“We are immensely grateful for the opportunity to contribute positively to the lives of these children and their families and take pride in our community involvement and the ability to make a meaningful difference,” Clark said.

So far the feedback from tamariki, whānau and hospital staff had been really positive, McCullough said.

Word had spread quickly and people were stopping in to have a look. The ward had already had calls from other professionals regarding the decals and who organised the project, she said.