As part of our social value commitments on the Barking Community Hospital Community Diagnostics Centre project, our team visited Eastbrook Primary School to talk about modern methods of construction, construction site safety and care delivery in hospitals; the latter illustrated by our children’s book, ‘Riley goes to Hospital’.
Children in Year 1 and Year 2 classes were told how Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust‘s new Community Diagnostics Centre was manufactured off-site in our factory, brought to site on big lorries, lifted into place using an enormous crane and would now help the hospital diagnose patients using special MRI and CT machines.
The children correctly identified that the modules manufactured for the CDC project were as tall as a giraffe, as long as a whale and as heavy as five or six elephants.
During the visit led by Josh Peace (Project Sales Lead) and Eliot Langfield (Marketing Manager), the children were taught about the importance of safety on construction sites and how we can protect ourselves.
They helped Josh get dressed up in the correct gear to ensure he would be safe and could be seen when he is on the construction site. This included them selecting the correct headgear, eyewear, jacket, gloves and boots from a variety of options, including a rather fetching wig.
We gave one pupil a chance to win a prize by designing the most unique and brightly coloured personal protective equipment that Josh could wear on site to make absolutely sure he could be seen.
They did not disappoint with everyone getting creative, using lots of colours and clever ideas to design the site safety gear. The drawings were so good that we had to give every single one of them a prize, with each of them receiving a copy of our ‘Riley goes to Hospital’ book to take home.
Eliot, who authored the book, then read the story to each class, explaining about all the different people whose job roles help to deliver care, teaching the children that is not just doctors and nurses who look after us when we are injured or unwell.
The pupils heard about Davina the Dispatcher, Rosie the Radiologist, Adam the Anaesthetist, Simi the Surgeon, Pete the cheerful Porter and many more characters during Riley’s stay in hospital.
The school visit was a delightful experience for our team, clearly leaving an impression on the young group who (accurately) identified Josh as a “person of significance” from history and Eliot as a “famous author”.
Year 1’s class teacher gave a lovely write-up of the visit that can be read on the school’s website here.