Children’s emergency department at Palmerston North Hospital positive news for Horowhenua kids

Trustees of the Horowhenua New Zealand Trust attending the official unveiling of Palmerston North Hospital's new children's emergency department.

The Palmerston North Hospital Foundation has marked the completion of its first community-funded project - the newly built children’s emergency department at Palmerston North Hospital.

The dedicated space for children and their whānau was unveiled during a formal opening for supporters and hospital staff on Friday. Palmerston North Hospital Foundation chairman Brendan Duffy said it was a great milestone for the foundation and an important asset for the community.

“This wouldn’t have been possible without our donors digging deep to create this space for tamariki.”

Duffy said the Horowhenua New Zealand Trust was one of the first supporters of this initiative, contributing $50,000 to the project.

Other contributors were the foundation itself, which had $700,000 to activate the build, and Health New Zealand - Te Whatu Ora, which contributed about $570,000.

According to Palmerston North Hospital officials, children from Horowhenua make up nearly 30% of the children’s emergency care admissions.

“This specially designed space is an important part of providing the right urgent medical care for children, away from the trauma, noise and at times frightening setting of the general emergency department,” said Dr Jeff Brown, the provincial paediatrician at Palmerston North Hospital and clinical executive of Te Uru Pā Harakeke - Healthy Women, Children and Youth at Mid Central.

Horowhenua New Zealand Trust trustee Larry Elison said the space will make a real difference to Horowhenua families whose only access to emergency department services is at Palmerston North Hospital.

“Those families are out of town, and so this is a safe and dedicated space for our Horowhenua families, away from home.”

The children’s emergency department is a separate, fit-for-purpose space, providing an additional five beds, including a procedure room, and a separate waiting area.

It includes a kitchenette, baby-changing facilities, toys, child-friendly spaces and a range of furniture and distraction tools to cater for a range of developmental stages, disabilities, illnesses and injuries.

“This was a true community-funded project, with over 180 trusts, organisations and individual contributors,” said Duffy.