Thanks to a donation to the Aberdeen Health Foundation from Investors Group, patients like Payton Moore are benefiting from new equipment in the Aberdeen Hospital’s Paediatric Rehabilitation Department.
The unit’s physiotherapist, Crystal Cameron, was pleased to learn of the donation and quickly identified a piece of equipment that would immediately benefit some of her tiniest patients. “We needed a headrest for our stander. For children who are delayed in learning to stand, the device supports them in the standing position and to begin weight bearing, the first step to getting them mobile. The addition of a headrest helps patients who do not have good head control to use the stander safely.”
According to Cameron, learning to stand is a developmental milestone that not only contributes to bone and muscle development but plays a role in the development of vision and hand-eye co-ordination.
“It’s the difference between being horizontal and looking at the ceiling all day or being upright and having the whole world to observe and interact with.”
Investors Group gives back annually to the communities they are based in and locally the team has been donating to the Aberdeen Health Foundation for years. Their previous support also made the stander possible.
“The availability of equipment such as this plays a crucial role in helping families who may be facing the need to travel for specialized therapies and additional costs of a variety of assistive devices that may be required for their child,” says Aberdeen Health Foundation Chair Jim Shaw. “At this stage, children outgrow the equipment they need so quickly. We’re so thankful to donors like Investors Group who help us in providing access to medical technology such as this and make it one less need that families in our community have to provide for.”
