Olympic gold medallist Alisa Camplin and her husband Oliver Camplin-Warner presented the inaugural Finnan’s Gift Grant to the Intensive Care (Rosella Ward) nursing team at The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) today in memory of their son Finnan.
The grant of $20,000 has been raised through exceptional community generosity following the establishment of Finnan’s Gift in 2011. Finnan Maximus Camplin-Warner was diagnosed in-utero with congenital heart disease (CHD) and passed away at just 10-days-old. The fundraising project was set up by Alisa and Oliver to honour their son and to raise awareness for CHD, which is the leading cause of death in young children in Australia.
The inaugural Finnan’s Gift Grant will specifically fund the Intensive Care (Rosella Ward) nurses to take advantage of a number of education, professional development and training opportunities that will support their work in delivering the best treatments and care at the RCH. The nurses will attend various important industry conferences, enabling them to present their research and enhance their leadership skills and knowledge.
In 2011, Finnan’s Gift’s first fundraising goal of $300,000 was reached in just three months following an outpouring of public support for the Camplin-Warners. The funds bought a state-of-the-art echocardiology scanning machine for the RCH cardiology department, which has been up and running at the hospital since October 2011.
Following this success, Alisa and Oliver established an ongoing grant, to be presented annually to further honour Finnan’s memory while supporting the RCH specialists, surgeons, nurses and doctors who cared for him.
“Finnan’s Gift has become a very significant part of Oliver’s and my life now. After donating the echocardiology machine in 2011 we simply couldn’t walk away because there is just so much more to do. The Finnan’s Gift Grants will be a way for us to continue giving, to keep working within our community for a better world and of course remember our gorgeous son. We know it won’t be easy, but nothing worth doing ever is,” Alisa said.
RCH Intensive Care Nurse Unit Manager, Adrian Hutchinson says the grant will make a significant contribution to supporting Intensive Care nurses at the RCH.
“Finnan’s Gift Grant will allow our Intensive Care Nurses to take advantage of a number of opportunities that will support their work in delivering the very best treatments to our sickest children,” he said.
Alisa and Oliver also announced today that the intended recipient of the 2013 Finnan’s Gift Grant is the team of perfusionists at the RCH. The perfusionist team operate the sophisticated life-support machines that manage the work of the heart and lungs whilst surgeons operate. Perfusionists are highly experienced medical scientists with specialised training in the techniques of artificial blood circulation, and were instrumental in Finnan’s six open heart surgeries.
For more information please refer to www.finnansgift.com.au or www.rchfoundation.org.au