Guy Ryan: Wellington Hospitals Foundation CEO on the Jammies in June appeal

Wellington Hospitals Foundation has launched its annual Jammies in June appeal to support children in hospitals around the region.

Demand for pyjamas is even higher this year, with the foundation hoping to collect 3400 pairs of sleepwear. 

The pyjamas are provided to children arriving at the hospital, as well as to children living in cold damp housing in the community.

To discuss the appeal, Wellington Hospitals Foundation CEO Guy Ryan joined Nick Mills.

To make a donation, visit whf.org.nz, or drop a pair of new flannelette pyjamas at Wellington, Kenepuru or Hutt hospitals. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Wellington Mornings podcast with Nick Mills
from News Talks at b joining US.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Now is Guy Ryan. Now guys the Wellington Hospitals Foundation CEO.
His job is to raise as much money, help out
as much as he possibly can to the hospitals in
our region, Poor Hospital, Hurt Hospital and Wellington Hospital. Guy.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Welcome morning, Nick.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
How are you doing doing good?

Speaker 3 (00:33):
Great to be here, Thank you.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Now you're here specifically to talk about Jarm's and June. Now,
I love this idea. Why do we need pajamas?

Speaker 3 (00:42):
Pajamas? Great?

Speaker 2 (00:43):
Why do we need them?

Speaker 3 (00:44):
A bunch of reasons.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Don't you use those sort of things that you throw
over yourself in hospitals? Why do you need pajabs?

Speaker 3 (00:49):
So? I guess, in the simplest sense, a warm pair
of pajamas, especially for kids, supports good immune systems. And
it's winter time, there's lots of bugs going around. It's
also a really tough time in Wellington. We know that
there's a lot of people and houses struggling, and so
the luxury of a warm pair of pajamas is not
something that everyone gets to enjoy. Now, our pediatric nursing

(01:11):
teams see that firsthand out in the community. But also
we see that in the hospitals when children are rushed,
for example, into emergency don't necessarily have a warm pair
of pjs with them for a bunch of reasons. So
being able to provide a warm pair of pajamas for
kids in need makes a big difference.

Speaker 2 (01:29):
How do people go about donating a pair of pajamas?
So they have to go and buy them from the
warehouse or buy them from somewhere and drop them more physically.
Can they donate the money so you can buy them?

Speaker 3 (01:38):
Great question? So actually it's easier just to donate the money.
So what we do is we go out to our
key hospitals, hut Kenny Brew Children's Hospital here in Wellington,
and we get a sense of what they need, what's
the demand that they are seeing out in the community.
So we're trying to raise money for more than four
more than three four hundred peers of pajamas. So by

(02:00):
donating money, that enables us to automate scale and sure
that we get the right sizes, the right quality to
sport kids in need. So that's the primary ask is please,
if you can an individual, a family, a school, a business,
donate some money to the Pajamas and June Appeal. Or
you also have the option of dropping in a pair
of PJS, because.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
That's more appealing to me. If I'm buying my kids
or my grandkids a pair of pajamas because I'm feeling good,
to buy an extra pair and dropping them off for
kind of that would make me feel sort of a
bit better than putting fifty bucks into an account.

Speaker 3 (02:35):
You can totally do that. And there's options to drop
off pjs either at Heart Kenny PUDU or at Wellington
Regional Hospital, so that's totally an option and people do
do that.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Now you've done this for how many years?

Speaker 3 (02:45):
Seven years?

Speaker 2 (02:45):
Wow? I was going to say five, but seven years.
How many pairs of pajamas do you get donated? How
many people drop off a pair of pajamas?

Speaker 3 (02:52):
Thousands? It changes every year. So last year we had
around two and a half thousand pairs of pjs that
we receive and or purchase and distribute out to our
hospitals and community nursing teams. This year, we know there's
more demand for that, so we're looking at three thy
four hundred peers this year and that will be a
mixture of drop offs or just purchasing and procurement.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
Can I ask you why you want flannel at once? Yep.

Speaker 3 (03:16):
There's very important health and safety precautions and regulations within
our hospitals and it's been I guess deemed approved with
our child health teams that they want flannel at pjs.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
As opposed to and if someone goes into hospital and
doesn't have a pair of pajamas and you give them
a pair of pajamas and they get them take them home.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
Yep, yep, So circumstances, you know, but yes, that's the intention.
And I mean people might not have pjs for a
bunch of reasons, you know, And so we have a
high trust agreement in place and really empower our child
health staff and community nursing teams to make those calls
on who needs pjs and if they need pjs, then
there's pjs on hand to supply them to kids and theed.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Why do our I mean this is a pretty simplistic question,
but why do our hospitals actually need pajamas? Why have
they not got them in their in their you know,
with their with all the other kit that they have
in them.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
Great question, I think it's pretty widely acknowledged that our
healthcare system is under pressure at the moment. You know,
government funding only stretches so far. Yet at the same time,
all of us have an interest in access to great healthcare,
and so for us, this is about ensuring that we
as a community, if we've got a little bit of
extra money to chip and actually this stuff makes a

(04:29):
really big difference what sizes.

Speaker 2 (04:32):
What sizes do you require?

Speaker 3 (04:34):
Well, between zero to sixteen kid sizes flannel at PJS flannel,
So there's quite a range there, you know, And I
guess that's also why there's options for people to drop
them off themselves, or if you just want to donate,
if that's easier, then we can order them at scale
and ensure that we've got don't have to.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
Be any specific color or design as long as you
can as long as that flannel they can be they
can get. Yeah, we can. We the date to set
a Peter Alexanders.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
You know what Peter Alexander is that I don't actually
tell them.

Speaker 2 (05:06):
No that they're they're the cool designer ones that Ethan wears.
You know, they're cool young people with lots of money,
where pajamas called Peter Alexander. They're kind of a brand.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
Okay. Yeah, Oh, I've got a five year old and
an eight year old and they're pretty into their pjs
and Rangers from Dinosaurs, and my eight year olds right
into gaming at the moment, so he just wanted some
gamer pajamas.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
So I kind of get the feeling that bright would
be good. Bright colors and make people feel better.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
If you want to drop off a pair of pajamas,
you can choose the style completely up to you. The
key thing is that they are flannel at and sizes
from zero to sixteen.

Speaker 2 (05:41):
I'm going to drop it. I'm going I've actually got
to pick up some stationary from the warehouse this afternoon,
So I'm going to pick up a pair of pajamas
this afternoon and I'm going to drop them off the Yeah,
I'm going to do my bit. I don't know when
I'm going to drop them off. I'll bring them into
the studio and show everybody that I've bought them before
us in them. If people want to donate, how do
they do that?

Speaker 3 (05:59):
Jump online WHHF dot org dot m Z super easy.
You'll find the donate to the appeal on the website.

Speaker 2 (06:05):
And if I'm going to ask you one last question,
if you want to make a plea for people are
willington a bit, why the importance of these pajamas? What
would you say?

Speaker 3 (06:13):
Look, this is about making sure that our children are warm,
you know, and we're helping to support healthy immune systems.
We're trying to I guess limit the spread you know
of a lot of the things that are going around
at the moment, cold's, flues, RSV, COVID, etc. We know
that there's lots of people struggling in our community and

(06:34):
helping to provide or donate to support a pair of
pajamas is a really simple thing. How do you do?

Speaker 2 (06:39):
How do you one the last question? How do you
get the pajamas into the needy people? Is that people
that the nurses are going around and visiting in their houses.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
And so that's our child health teams. So there's a
mixture there of on site specific support there as well
as community health teams that go out into the community
into households as well.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
Thank you very much for coming in, Guy, appreciate it.
Nice to meet you. CEO of Wellington Hospitals Foundation, Guy Ryan,
and the campaigns called jarmis and please give generously. Please,
if you're in the warehouse or in somewhere where you
can guide by Pajamas Flannel at Pajamas for Kids, buy
set or donate to WHF dot org, dot org dot

(07:19):
nz to make a donation so they can buy and
that money is going directly to pajamiz. Yeah that's okay,
Thanks guy, I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (07:27):
For more from Wellington Mornings with Nick Mills, listen live
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