A ten year old from Allithwaite near Grange over Sands has won a competition to design the logo of the Children’s Services she uses.Lucy Weston, suffers from a condition called severs disease which is an inflammation in the heel of growing children that, alongside other things, makes it painful to walk.
Lucy’s blue elephant design was inspired from a recent family holiday to Africa to celebrate Lucy no longer needing the aid of crutches to walk, thanks to the support of physiotherapy and podiatry services from Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, the acute orthopaedic services from Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust and Alder Hay’s Children’s Hospital.
Lucy Weston said: “I hope my design helps children to smile and be brave when they are coping with illness”.
Lucy’s winning design will now be used on our newly published children’s services webpage called Weston’s Welcome. www.cumbriapartnership.nhs.uk/our-services/children-families/westons-welcome.
The page is designed to improve the information that is available to children and young people with long term conditions as they enter our services, and shows short clips of health professionals explaining what children and young people can expect.
Polly Weston, Lucy’s mum said: “I couldn’t be more proud that Lucy’s design is being used as the Children’s mascot. “I would also like to thank the CAMHS services for all their support in getting Lucy ready to go back to school following her having to miss 5 months because of the intense therapy that was needed following her surgery.”
Helen Walker, Quality & Safety Lead Children Specialist Network: “Lucy, who is a talented artist, has made a great contribution to our project which is centred around making our services more welcoming for children and their families. “Children and families have been telling us about the changes that they would like us to make and this is a great step towards meeting that goal. “It is important for children to feel comfortable when they come to see us and we hope that Weston the Elephant will resonate with all children who need to use our services.”
On Monday 14th December Lucy was presented with a certificate and vouchers for her winning design at her schools Christmas Carol Service by Helen Walker, Quality and Safety Lead for Specialist Pathways. Mrs Gillian Elliot, Head Teacher at Allithwaite School said: “Lucy’s design encapsulates all the things that make children smile. Lucy’s design will hopefully encourage other children going through similar issues to smile and be happy”