A hospital playroom for kids and parents

Author Tessa Duder (left), Sam O'Dwyer and Nicola Gray at the opening of the Starship's underwater-themed playroom. Photo / Steven McNicholl

A new playroom at the Starship children's hospital will make life a bit easier for youngsters and their parents.

At a ceremony at the Starship emergency department yesterday, staff opened a bright and colourful underwater-themed play area - much to the delight of 3-year-old Sam O'Dwyer.

Sam got a peek at the room a few weeks ago when he was taken to the emergency department for what was thought to be pneumonia.

During his time there his parents, Peter O'Dwyer and Nicola Gray, took him into the room to keep his spirits up.

"He turned out to be okay, but there was a time when we had to entertain him a bit and he is quite a lively child and it can be hard to control him sometimes," Mr O'Dwyer said.

"It makes a massive difference."

Yesterday, Sam whizzed around the room touching everything he could - popping out of tiny windows and doors, playing with a boat propeller and reaching up at the colourful fish hanging above him.

The playroom was a gift from the ASB Bank to mark its 20 years of sponsorship of the Starship.

It is based on a story - All Aboard - written specially for the room by author Tessa Duder.

The playroom features art works by Beck Wheeler and Cinzah Merkens.

A paediatric emergency medicine specialist at the Starship, Mike Shepherd, praised the move to build the playroom within the emergency department, saying it was as much a benefit to parents as it was to children.

Dr Shepherd said the emergency department had about 30,000 visitors each year, and parents often came in upset and stressed at having a child admitted to hospital but also at having to care for other children who might have to come along too.

"We had a family who had twins and one of the twins was unwell with asthma and the other twin was very much happy and wild," he said.

"We sat him in the play area ... and it allowed his mother to focus on her sick child and not be stressed out with her other child."