Hawke's Bay Magpies players Ihaia West and Zac Guildford at the Hawkes Bay hospital in Hastings during the launch of this years Countdown Kids Hospital Appeal
Hastings preschoolers and secondary school students shared the limelight with five Magpies rugby stars yesterday at a Hawke's Bay launch of a nationwide children's hospital appeal which, last year, raised more than $1.3 million.
Pupils from ABC Preschool and Hastings Boys' High School performed during the launch at Hawke's Bay
Hospital, with Magpies players Zac Guildford, Ihaia West, Ryan Tongia, Jarvy Aoake and Mason Emerson.
The players then toured the children's ward.
The hospital and its youngest patients have benefited by more than $500,000 from the appeal during the past seven years, with $127,000 last year including about $35,000 for audiology equipment.
The appeal is a significant event for the district health board and allows the hospital to buy machinery and equipment which makes life easier in places like the special care baby unit, paediatrics, maternity and the emergency department.
