Buddies helping keep Tauranga children safe

BOPDHB's Pete Chandler (seated left) with his buddy 'Mikey' (far right) from Brodie Hunter (right). Back row - Richard Brown, Lynnece Dowle and Debbie McDougall.

More than 30 senior managers and staff at Tauranga Hospital will be spending the day with some very special 'buddies' tomorrow.

Buddy Day is the nationwide event when people carry cardboard cut-outs of children (known as 'buddies') around with them throughout their working days as a way of highlighting the message of keeping children safe.

Bay of Plenty District Health Board (BOPDHB) staff and management - including chief executive Phil Cammish, chief operating officer Pete Chandler and director of nursing Julie Robinson - have taken the message on enthusiastically.

"One of the key themes of Buddy Day is that it's up to all of us to look out for our children, to be ever mindful of child welfare and that it takes a community to raise a child," said Pete Chandler.

"The hospital is a focal point of our community and we take that message very seriously."
Mr Chandler said Buddy Day was also about starting conversations around child welfare and this was a great way of doing it.

Mr Chandler took possession of his buddy 'Mikey' from its creator Brodie Hunter, a 13-year-old Tauranga Hospital Children's Ward patient. As part of the creative process, children are asked to make up a back-story for their buddy which they then record in a diary and which accompanies the buddy.

Brodie said 'Mikey' was originally from Italy, that he came to live in New Zealand after visiting his grandmother here, and that his favourite game is Trivial Pursuit.

Paediatrics Play Specialist Debbie McDougall said the act of creating the buddies had been very beneficial.

"Creating a backstory for their 'Buddy' has been really rewarding, it's a very creative process and the children have been really enthusiastic about it.

"It's also opened the way for conversations that can sometimes be difficult. For example children talking about their feelings about being in hospital, they can do it in the third person through their buddy. It's a safe way of doing that."

Tauranga Hospital social work acting team leader Richard Brown was the DHB's Buddy Day organiser.

"From a hospital perspective we're also using Buddy Day as a way to stress the importance of getting children to their health appointments. We can help parents and guardians if they're having problems attending, we can work together to get the kids here, which is the important thing at the end of the day."