Media information
For immediate release

Date: 5 March 2010

Celebrating Children In Style

Waikato Hospital is getting in early to celebrate Children's Day with
its paediatric patients and their families.

Children's Day, celebrated nationally on Sunday 7 March, is being
brought forward to today (Friday 5 March) at Waikato Hospital.

The annual awareness event that celebrates children has a theme this
year of 'Praise and encouragement', which will incorporated into
today's festivities at the hospital.

Kicking off with healthy but 'untypical' hospital breakfasts for
paediatric patients, sponsored by HEHA (Healthy Eating, Healthy Action),
the celebrations for Children's Day continue.

Waikato District Health Board's Visual Communications team has
created special edition Children's Day tray liners for the breakfast
which are bright and colourful and include a word puzzle, join-the-dots
and colouring-in games.

At 10am, the Funky Monkeys, a children's song and dance group, will
perform for these patients in the Elizabeth Rothwell auditorium,
followed by another musical performance by Ngaire Daniels and Toia
Diprose-Chase and heaps of giveaways from Children's Day promoters,
and face painting.

"We are really excited to have our own edition of Children's Day
here at Waikato Hospital - to bring a little bit of celebration and
light to the days of our child patients and their families," said
Waikato Hospital social worker Sue Griffin.

For more information about Children's Day, visit
www.childrensday.org.nz

ENDS