The Lady Ridgeway hospital is one of the oldest and largest children’s hospitals in Asia which was established by public subscription in 1895 as the Lady Havelock Hospital for Women and Children and was subsequently renamed as the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children in 1910. The hospital’s facilities include several surgical units and specialized units which provides a range of healthcare services to child patients free of charge in accordance with the free State healthcare policy in the country.

An initial visit to the hospital by a team from KPMG in Sri Lanka revealed that several wards of the hospital needed much refurbishment and hospital management also encouraged the proposed initiative. The corporate citizenship project was directed towards Ward1-Section C which provided healthcare services to a large number of children aged 4 – 16, suffering from “Chronic side” illnesses such as hormonal or metabolic problems, blood disorders such as thalassaemia and those recovering from acute infections. Due to their state of health most of the patients in this ward require frequent and prolonged admissions and as such it was important to create an environment conducive to their recuperation and well being.

The project team took up the challenge of addressing this timely need in a Corporate Citizenship project titled “Colour for Me” in the month of August 2009. Over fifty staff members of the firm joined in the project taking time away from their busy schedules and contributed their efforts in organizing, painting, cleaning and refurbishing the ward. The firm provided volunteers with a day away from their work schedules and the volunteers contributed part of their weekend towards this endeavor.  The collaboration was also further strengthened by the generous contributions by supporting organizations and individuals in providing necessary materials required for the programme.

The ward before the refurbishment programme

The ward after the refurbishment programme

After two full days of hard work, the team was able to successfully complete the refurbishment of the ward adding colour and comfort to the lives of its patients. The fresh atmosphere created in the ward included colourful walls, refurbished beds, new linen, polished floors, mosquito nets, toys and a television set which will provide entertainment and education to children during their stay in the ward.  

We were delighted to see the joy and excitement in faces of the children who came in to the ward after the completion of the refurbishment programme, which was also further complemented by the expressions and smiles in the faces of their parents and hospital staff. The volunteers also spent time with the children and their families and learnt of the many challenges faced by them in day-to-day life and this inspired us towards planning for similar initiatives towards addressing these needs in the near future. The project also depicted how dedicated team work, enthusiasm and personal involvement of team members could make a real difference not only to the patients and their families but also to each one of us as well. 

The project champions Eeshani Fernando and Samanthi Wijesinghe were overjoyed by the response in the Firm and were also thankful that they were able to implement a Corporate Citizenship initiative similar to what they learnt at the ASPAC KPMG regional team event in Chi Min city.