South Shields pupils share touching experiences as they thank hospital staff to mark World Kindness Day

Staff at South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust were the inspiration for the notes as children at Mortimer Community College in South Shields were invited join-in the gesture, which has seen 1,000 messages sent to hospital staff.

During their form class session, they added their thoughts to a specially designed card, adapted from those sent home to families to share positive messages.

They included one from a pupil who has recently spent time in hospital and others whose family members have been cared for by the Trust’s frontline staff after they fell ill due to coronavirus.

The completed messages will be sent to staff at South Tyneside District Hospital.

Among the notes on the cards was one which reads: “Thank you for your hard work during the pandemic. I was in hospital for three days and you were so kind and caring.”

Another said: “I know the last year has been hard and I want you to know you are appreciated for what you are doing in keeping us safe and healthy.

"During the global pandemic you have been working tirelessly and helped people recover from COVID and I’m grateful for the care and kindness you have shown people – you are awesome.”

Also among the messages was one which said: “Thank you for the amazing work you all did during the last year, I appreciate all your work. My great-grandad was in hospital from Covid and has recovered because of you all.”

The project in the lead up to Saturday’s awareness event has been led by the schools Key Stage 3 co-ordinator Amy McKenna across the school.

She said: “Many of our students, staff and families have been supported at some point by our local NHS, so it feels only right to share our personal thanks.“We recognise that NHS staff go above and beyond to supports us, not only throughout the pandemic but also throughout our day to day lives.

“As a school we would like to share a small gesture alongside our personal thanks and gratitude for their kindness and selflessness.”

Kath Griffin, the Trust’s Director of Human Resources, said: “We are absolutely overwhelmed to hear the students have taken the time to create these beautiful cards to share with our staff and talked about their own first-hand experiences of the care they have received or has been given to family members.

“We are proud for the dedication our colleagues show right across our services and it is wonderful to know that is also appreciated out in our community.”

World Kindness Day is held annually on November 13 to promote the importance of being kind to each other, yourself and to the world.

Organisers say the purpose of the day is ‘to help everyone understand that compassion for others is what binds us all together. This understanding has the power to bridge the gap between nations’.

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