A Chester woman is delighted a drawing she did when she was a teenage cardiac patient has inspired the design of the new Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.
Ellie Brogan, now 22, was receiving treatment at the Liverpool hospital when patients where invited to submit their visions of what the recently opened £250m state-of-the-art facility should look like.
Ellie was brimming with pride when she discovered her flower drawing was the influence for Alder Hey in the Park, which took two years to build and contains 270 beds and 16 operating theatres across five storeys.
She said: “I’m so proud that something I did as a teenager has turned into a real life, working hospital.
“I will always be so grateful to Alder Hey, such an amazing place with very special staff.”
Ellie has maintained her involvement with the hospital for the past eight years and sits on the Young People’s Design Team to help ensure that it is designed from a patient’s point of view.
Alder Hey chief executive Louise Shepherd said that the hospital was designed to be fun, help patients recover quickly and ‘most importantly’ to not look like a hospital.
Now Ellie has made it her mission to ‘get Alder Hey’s name out there and raise vital funds for life-saving research’.
She has organised a children’s Christmas fair in aid of Alder Hey Children’s Charity at Thornton Hough Village Hall on December 6, between noon and 2pm.
Chester youngster Erin Cross was one of the first people to step into the new facility.
