Nominating a Health Hero with Boots and This Morning #HealthHeroes

Regular readers of my posts will be aware that we had a bit of a medical catastrophe as regards to D in February. Basically, she receives a monthly injection due to growth issues and these injections started in early December, under hospital care. The hospital transferred this out to our GP at the end of the year and that’s when the problems started.

Unbeknown to us, the issues that the medication were due to prevent would still occur with a vengeance if the injection was more than one day over four weeks. The nurse at the GP’s moved one appointment without checking consequences, one injection five days late (because I’d trusted that the appointment could be moved because they said it was okay) and..,two weeks of extreme discomfort for D.

Telephone calls to the surgery were not returned, I was going around in circles and very worried about future appointments. I had already been told just how much the injections cost per “shot” so was concerned that precious NHS money had been wasted as well as the symptoms that the injections were meant to prevent, were continuing and were worsened. It was also very hard to justify a painful monthly injection to D, which caused her immense stress and anxiety, as the symptoms were continuing. Not the best situation for an autistic child with anxieties. The consultant at the hospital was impossible to get hold of too.

I felt that we were going around in circles, waiting for phone calls that weren’t happening and all the while, the month was ticking on.

I arranged to meet with the nurse at D’s school, she had become aware via staff of the situation and wanted to offer some help. She has been an absolute star! Whether it is because she is a nurse and professionals would be more inclined to return her calls, I don’t know but she quickly established the one-day leeway and sent off a letter to the surgery. She also managed to get through to the hospital consultant and an action plan was put into place. She now administers D’s monthly injections with a nurse from the community team coming out in the school holidays.

To say that this is a relief is an understatement! D is still extremely apprehensive about her injections but, because they are is taking place in a familiar environment (either school or home) and she knows the school nurse, the anxieties are reduced and it is all over far quicker.

There are a lot of stresses involved with special needs parenting and the school nurse has greatly relieved some, she has gone over and above any expectations I may have had and achieved a result. I am so grateful.

For this reason, I am nominating her in the Health Hero Awards, this award process is in conjunction with Boots, the Daily Mail and ITV’s This Morning.

Here’s some information from a Boots representative:

“Boots UK are encouraging people to get involved by nominating their personal Health Hero. This could be anyone – from a best friend who helped you through a tough period of ill-health, to someone who has helped care for a close relative, or even a long-serving family.”

Nominations can be be in three ways:
1. Online at boots.com/HealthHeroes
2. In any Boots store via a post box, pick up a leaflet (picture below), fill it in and ask a member of staff where the post box is
3. Or by post, fill in the form and return it to the address listed.

It’s a fantastic chance to say “thank you” to those unsung heroes who are always there for people and go over and above expectations. Nominations are open until 20th May 2014 and there are fantastic prizes for the five finalists.

Disclaimer: I have been asked by Boots to promote this and have not been compensated in any way.

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