Wellington Hospitals Foundation

24/07/2025

📣 Calling all knitters!

Our supplies of beautiful handmade baby cardigans are running low and we need your help!

We’re looking for newborn-sized cardigans made from 100% new wool to help keep precious pēpi warm and cosy. Wool is a natural fibre that helps babies regulate their temperature, something which is especially important for our tiniest patients.

One of our favourite patterns can be found here:https://whf.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/V-Neck-Cardigan.pdf

If you can help, please send your finished knits to:
Wellington Hospitals Foundation, PO Box 7902, Newtown, Wellington 6242.

Thank you for caring for our littlest patients.💛

21/07/2025

For the past five years, Wellington Hospitals Foundation has been proud to sponsor the Manawa Ora Hospital Orchestra and Choir. Complementing the Foundation’s regular volunteer music programme, these talented hospital professionals help bring moments of calm and connection to patients, whānau as well as hospital colleagues.

Hospital staffer Jacob Barrett is also an award winning composer and current Choirs Aotearoa composer-in-residence. Jacob has been commissioned by SOUNZ to create a suite of nine lullabies - each one inspired by the Matariki stars and what they represent. With lyrical input by children from Newtown School who wrote poems in te reo Māori, these lullabies are a beautiful collaboration between the hospital and our local community.

📣Four of these lullabies will be performed Manawa Ora’s Winter Concert on Friday 25 July at 1.00pm in Wellington Regional Hospital’s Atrium.

05/07/2025

Thanks to the generous support of our long term charity partner, Jack Jeffs Charitable Trust, children needing extra support in hospital and at home now have access to a range of new equipment that’s making a real difference to their care.

This includes therapy tools for the Child Development Service, equipment for our Play Specialists, and colourful, practical tube-feeding backpacks in a variety of sizes for tamariki receiving home enteral (tubed) nutrition.

Tube feeding is used when a child can’t eat enough by mouth due to illness, injury or disability. These specially designed backpacks make it easier for children on continuous feeds to move about freely, feel more confident and enjoy a bit more normality in their day. With fun designs they look like any regular backpack - but with features that make feeding on the go safer and simpler for families.

We’re incredibly grateful to the Jack Jeffs Charitable Trust for helping us support whānau navigating complex health journeys.

📷 Tube-feeding packs: Carly Fry, Clinical Dietician, Allied Health.
📷 Child Development equipment: Jo Mills, Paediatric Physiotherapist, Child Development Service & Diane Davis, Therapy Assistant, Child Development Service.

04/07/2025

On her 41st birthday, Cushla received the gift of a second chance at life – a lifesaving liver transplant in Auckland. After a long and complicated recovery, she continued to receive expert care at Wellington Regional Hospital through the Gastroenterology, Oral Health and Dermatology teams.

Grateful for the compassionate care she received, Cushla was determined to give back. She became a dedicated hospital volunteer, warmly welcoming patients as a hospital guide, offering encouragement and support alongside the physiotherapist in the hydrotherapy pool at Kilbirnie, and later working with staff in the busy ICU.

To honour her life and legacy, Cushla’s husband Dean recently made a memorial gift to Wellington Hospitals Foundation. He told us that giving back to the hospital that had done so much for Cushla meant a great deal to her - it was her way of expressing thanks and helping others facing their own difficult journeys.

03/07/2025

Trigger warning: This post shows sensitive medical imagery.
Thanks to your generous support, patients across our region now have access to a full suite of advanced diagnostic breast imaging and biopsy options at Wellington Regional Hospital.

In late 2023, Wellington Hospitals Foundation funded the purchase of a state of the art 3D mammography machine, which has been transforming the diagnostic experience with clearer imaging, greater comfort and reduced stress for patients.

Thanks again to your support, additional equipment has been purchased to enable the hospital’s existing Vacuum-Assisted Biopsy (VAB) and Vacuum-Assisted Excision (VAE) system to work seamlessly with the new machine. These less invasive procedures are an important alternative to surgery for many patients, offering a safer, faster way to diagnose or remove certain breast lesions.

This upgrade helps restore equitable access to these services across the region, avoiding the need to outsource care or resort to surgery under general anaesthetic. It’s a significant step forward for local breast care.

Your generosity is helping deliver better care to patients every day. To help fund more life-changing equipment like this, please donate at https://whf.org.nz/donate/

📷 From left: Rebecca Stewart, Megan Sutherland & Lisa Cotton - Wellington Regional Hospital with Shona Brunton and Guy Ryan, Wellington Hospitals Foundation

03/07/2025

Wellington District Police have long been wonderful supporters of our region’s children’s hospital and we were thrilled to welcome them to Te Wao Nui this morning with a huge delivery of cosy pyjamas for tamariki and rangatahi in hospital care.

These warm winter PJs were generously donated by members of the wider Wellington District Police whānau, including teams from: Wellington Central Police & Central Communications, Royal NZ Police College, Police National Headquarters, the National Dive Squad, Fi****ms Registry, Child Protection (Petone), Kapiti and the Kapiti Digital Centre, Evidence Based Policing and Wellness Team as well as the Hutt, Petone and Wairarapa Police teams.

Special thanks to Dan, Karl, Lisa, Shanee and Georgia for their mahi in coordinating the police appeal. 💙

02/07/2025

We are delighted to be named as finalists in the Wellington Airport Regional Community Awards for 2025. With over 540 volunteers generously gifting their time and talents to our hospitals each week, this nomination is a meaningful recognition of the compassion, dedication and care they bring to patients, whānau and staff across our region.

Congratulations to the 2025 Wellington Airport Community Award Finalists for Wellington City Council!

Read more: https://bit.ly/communityawards2025

01/07/2025

Incredible to see Sir Mark Dunajtschik’s continued commitment to our region’s health. Alongside Dorothy Spotswood, he was the benefactor behind Te Wao Nui children’s hospital – a project Wellington Hospitals Foundation was privileged to help bring to life. It’s inspiring to see Sir Mark’s continued commitment to the health of our region. This remarkable gift towards the new mental health facility will have a further profound and lasting impact on the lives of many.

Construction is officially underway on the new Sir Mark Dunajtschik Mental Health Centre in Lower Hutt!

Health Minister Simeon Brown, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey, and Hutt South MP Chris Bishop marked the milestone with a sod-turning ceremony last week.

The Ministers expressed their gratitude to Sir Mark Dunajtschik for his extraordinary $50 million donation — a generous contribution that will enhance mental health care across the Wellington region. Health New Zealand adds its heartfelt thanks for this remarkable gift.

This purpose-built, 34-bed facility will provide safe, therapeutic, and culturally appropriate care for patients, staff, and whānau.

Read more on the project at: http://spr.ly/61854cdKF

30/06/2025

Over the past three months, Wellington Hospitals Foundation has proudly sponsored a series of Creative Arts Therapy Workshops for renal patients, led by Wellington Regional Hospital’s Allied Health social work team.

Living with kidney failure is not only physically demanding, but it can also bring significant emotional and psychological challenges too. Many patients face long term treatment, uncertainty and isolation. These workshops offer more than just art, they provide a safe and supportive space for patients to explore and process the complex emotions that often accompany chronic illness, while also building meaningful connections with others on a similar journey.

📷Stock image

27/06/2025

✨As we celebrate Matariki – a time of new beginnings – we were honoured to meet gorgeous newborn baby-Moodie, at Wellington Regional Hospital.

To mark the season, Wellington Hospitals Foundation has again proudly sponsored soft merino wraps for precious pēpē born last week across our region’s four Maternity Units – Wellington, Kenepuru, Paraparaumu and Hutt Valley.

Merino wool is a natural, breathable fibre that helps babies stay warm without overheating – supporting safe sleep and helping regulate their temperature more effectively than synthetics.

Ngā mihi to all our new parents and pēpē this Matariki – we wish you every joy as your whānau grows.

26/06/2025

Thanks to the generosity of our community, Wellington Regional Hospital's ICU now have special comfort packs on hand for children visiting a loved one in intensive care.

These thoughtfully assembled bags include small items to help tamariki experiencing distress - especially during the loss of a parent, sibling or caregiver - to feel seen, supported and a little less alone.

“The ICU can be frightening for young people - it’s full of strangers and nothing is familiar,” says ICU nurse Ruth Chinn. “Having child focused resources makes the space feel more welcoming and gives children a way to play, create and gently process big emotions. Thank you.”

We’re proud to support this important initiative and deeply grateful to the donors who made it possible.

Pictured from left: Nicola Bryant, Jiaxin Huang (Kitty), Nur Nadzirah Binte Salim (Nadz)

25/06/2025

Gabrail Sarkes quietly gave back to his community with generosity and warmth.

A regular visitor to our office since 2018, Gabrail always chose to donate in person - and it was a true privilege to see him. He would stop for a chat, connect with the team and bring a sense of kindness that stayed with us long after he left. That simple gesture meant a great deal.

Through his ongoing support, Gabrail helped many young patients and their whānau receive the care and comfort they needed during their time in hospital.

Today, his legacy of kindness lives on through his family’s continued memorial gifts. We are truly grateful to his daughter Evana and her family for carrying his spirit of giving forward.

Evana recently shared: “My late father was a kind man who gave back in any way he could. He especially supported Te Wao Nui to help whānau spend more time with their children and ease their stress during tough moments. It’s now my responsibility to carry on his kindness and keep his memory alive.”