The trolley was loaded with workout equipment and the short road trip to a new hospital had begun. This might seem like the start, but in reality, it was the outcome of months of planning and the beginning of a new project we are so proud to see underway.
December 16th was a huge day for us here at Momentum Fitness Charity. Exercise therapists Kelcie and Daryl visited QA hospital to deliver the very first fitness sessions to a new group of children fighting cancer.
This is what a day in the life of Momentum Fitness Charity work delivery looks like. And everything it takes to put it into motion.
This project grew from our PB:Active work in the Piam Brown ward at Southampton General Hospital. Without us knowing, word was spreading to other hospitals about the impact we were having on improving children’s lives. Consultants were talking to other units and explaining what we did.
This first we heard of it was when an email landed in our inbox from QA Hospital in Portsmouth asking to find out more.
This kickstarted emails back and forth to get an understanding of how this new project could begin and what the hospital wanted to achieve from it. There were zoom meetings with wards full of doctors and nurses. Walkthrough videos sent to highlight the hospital gym facilities available to our team. Enhanced DBS sourcing for everyone who might be taking part.
And this was only a small part of the planning behind the scenes. But once everything was arranged, it was over to Kelcie and Daryl.
The level of a child’s fitness and treatment related challenges play a huge role in deciding what equipment to take and the level of fitness related movements it is safe to deliver.
So Kelcie and Daryl met to chat about who they were expecting and loaded up the trolley. Once they arrived at the QA, they headed straight to the underwater shipwreck themed paediatric ward to say hello.
The wonderful team of nurses and doctors showed them to the gym area and the children arrived soon after. Some arrived subdued. Some arrived nervous. One even arrived telling jokes and singing Gangnam style. But every child got the chance to say what they wanted to achieve from the sessions and where they felt they struggled.
The next few hours saw so many of the children go from reluctantly attempting body weight movements and questioning their ability to perform them to comfortably doing reps of the same movements with weight. And all within the very first week.
There were shoulder presses, bicep curls, weighted squats and lunges.
There were step ups to the beat of “another bites the dust” as one child sang their way through the reps.
And there were smiling parents watching on as their children achieved more than they thought they could in a hospital environment so often associated with the most challenging parts of their lives.
Every single child smiled.
Every single parent wanted to know how to book onto the next session.
Every single one said they would be back.
After that it was time to wrap up at the hospital and deliver the equipment back to the gym. Week one of our new project at QA is complete and we cannot wait to see what we can achieve together by the end.
Lifechanging work like this is only made possible because of the kind donations of our supporters.
Every donation, no matter how small, makes a huge difference so please click the button below to change a child’s life for the better.