Terri helped thank children of hero parents from the Chief Nurse

6th November 2020

Submitted by Caroline O'Connor, Portsmouth Hospitals University NHS Trust

Terri Thewlis was unable to come in to undertake her usual volunteering role during the height of the pandemic but still very much wanted to help.

We knew it was hard for children who had a loved one working at the hospital at this time, so our Chief Nurse, Liz Rix decided to send a personalised letter to many of them. This was a huge administrative task and Terri was instrumental in helping us achieve it sending almost 1,000 letters to the children of our staff. Terri worked from home alongside Louise, a member of the voluntary services team, to ensure that letters from Liz were sent out in a timely way to all those who requested one.

Thanks to Terri many children felt part of our hospital team and were thanked for what they were doing to help their Mummy, Daddy or Grandparent do their job to help our patients.

Terri made a huge difference to our staff and helped ensure our Chief Nurse was able to send individual letters out to all. Below is some of the feedback our Chief Nurse and voluntary services received.

'This is lovely. Key Worker children feel a range of emotions seeing their parent/loved one going out to work.'

'What an incredibly thoughtful idea.'

'My son was so pleased at this official letter of recognition.'

'Look at that smile, my baby boy was so excited to receive his surprise letter.'

'This has really lifted his spirits.'

'Three very excited little girls received these today.'

Our Chief Nurse said: 'This is amazing and has made such a difference over the last few months. Thank you for helping to provide this service.'

Enjoy reading Terri's story? Why not read all the Wall of Fame stories here.