Tear for the newborn, in hospital billboard campaign

By MARTIN JOHNSTON

A public appeal launched yesterday with a billboard crammed with 1600 baby dolls is seeking $500,000 to help improve overcrowded hospital facilities for some of the sickest and tiniest babies.

Middlemore Hospital in South Auckland expects a Government commitment soon to provide at least half of the $3 million to $4 million needed for a replacement newborn unit.

The South Auckland Health Foundation is trying to raise $500,000 from the public and $1.5 million from corporate sponsorship for the new unit, which will have 10 more cots than the present unit's 20, including a doubling of the present six cots for intensive-care babies.

The two-week public appeal - the proceeds of which will be earmarked for facilities such as rooms for families, a breast-feeding room and milk-expressing equipment - includes media advertising, street theatre and the billboard on the Downtown carpark in central Auckland, designed to reflect overcrowding in the unit.

Yesterday, four babies from Middlemore's district were being cared for at National Women's Hospital.

nzherald.co.nz/hospitals