Young children in west Wales can be reassured about certain scans - with a special video message from a penguin. Walter, a friendly penguin in the Hywel Dda area has been providing comfort to children who undergo scans at Withybush Hospital, through an award-winning video. The nuclear medicine team at the hospital created the video to help better explain their procedures to their young patients, aiming to make the experience less daunting.
The nuclear medicine service at the hospital offers scans to children aged three months to 18 years old from across the Hywel Dda area, including Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire. These scans help doctors to examine various parts of the body such as kidneys, bowel, or bones. The term 'nuclear medicine' can sound scary to anyone but especially children, however, it's done through a process involving the use of a special gamma radiation medicine which they then capture images using a gamma camera.
Rachael Cunliffe, a clinical technologist at the hospital, helped create the video titled 'Walter the Penguin'. She shared: "The video was created mainly for children aged between two to six years old as we saw that this is the age which can be the hardest for them to understand what is happening to them." The video depicts Walter the Penguin's journey to Withybush Hospital for a scan.
Initially nervous, Walter is shown the machine and talked through the process, helping to put his fears to rest. The content for the video was developed .