Heartbeat: Taking the fear out of fractures

April 11, 2019

Stephanie Craig is leading the creation of more child-friendly fracture clinics.

She explains, “Children often feel anxious when waiting for their fractures to be treated. Our objective is to keep children calm and happy because if they feel traumatised, they may not want to come back to us if they need to.”

With the assistance of Orthopaedic Practitioner, Steve Hackett-Cann, who established a more child-friendly approach when working as the fracture clinic manager at Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate, the new child-friendly environment in the fracture clinic at Sandwell includes lots of colourful posters, crayons, pens and colouring books, along with a wide range of children’s books donated by local charity shops.

Tesco and Asda have also donated generously. In April 2018, Sid, the Community Champion from Tesco’s West Bromwich store donated a portable DVD player to the clinic. Watching films has really helped to distract young, distressed patients when they are having casts applied. Also, Paula, the Community Champion for Asda in Tipton, donated a huge selection of colouring books, felt pens, pencils and games.

“The new child friendly environment has made the fracture clinic run much smoother. We’ve helped to take the fear out of fractures, as children are now calmer, happier and more occupied when waiting for their treatment, which means their parents or guardians arehappier too!” says Stephanie.

She continues: “I would like to personally thank both Tesco and Asda for their generous donations. We are currently in the process of creating a similar environment at City and any donations or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.”

If you have donations or ideas to contribute, please contact Stephanie Craig on 0121 507 5351/3152.