Mother makes donation to children's ward in memory of her daughter

IN January 2006, 5 weeks after she was born at Ormskirk hospital, doctors realised little Josephine Hulme had serious heart problems.  She was eventually diagnosed with dilated cardio-myopathy, which results in weakened heart muscles that cannot pump the blood efficiently.

Josephine's mother Ursula Hulme explained:- "Josephine was first of all put under the care of Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool and then Great Ormond St Children's Hospital and the consultants there decided she needed a heart transplant.  This was carried out in June 2006 at the age of just 6 months and for the first few months although small and she had some catching up to do, Josephine was progressing very well.  Unfortunately, however, in March 2008 she developed tachycardia, which is an increased heart rate.  Doctors were unsure exactly what was causing it, but it didn't seem to be too much of a problem."

In early 2008 Josephine had won the Right Start Magazine "Child of the Year" and her family had been given a holiday in the South of France as a prize.  The day after she came back from the holiday in Nice on July 21 2008 she collapsed and died at home aged just 2 years and 8 months old.

Ursula went on:- "We decided to ask family and friends to give donations rather than send flowers for the funeral and together with Sefton Tumble Tots, where Josephine used to go in Aughton, we raised £1,500.  We decided to split it between the Ormskirk, Alder Hey and Great Ormond St hospitals."

Shirley Coward, Matron of the children's ward at Ormskirk said:- "We are very grateful to Ursula and her partner Michael for remembering us at such a sad and difficult time.  The £400 will be used to buy three oxygen analysers that are used on babies with chest problems, and a musical cot mobile, because Josephine used to love the one she had over her cot when she was on our ward."

Finally, Ursula made a plea for more people to carry donor cards:- "We are so grateful that Josephine was able to have a heart transplant at such a young age, it gave us 2 extra precious years with her.  She lived as much as possible a normal life for a toddler, going to nursery, Tumble-Tots, parks and so on despite the numerous hospital visits she had, she still managed a smile for everyone.

Without the courageous decision of the family to donate their child's heart Josephine would have not lived beyond her first birthday.  We would like to positively encourage people to sign up on the NHS Organ Donor Register Today.  More than 9,000 people in the UK need an organ transplant that could save or dramatically improve their life.  Most are waiting for a kidney, others for a heart, lung or liver transplant, but less than 3,000 transplants are carried out each year.

Transplants are one of the most miraculous achievements of modern medicine.  But they depend entirely on the generosity of donors and their families who are willing to make this life-saving gift to others."

If you've not signed up to the NHS Organ Donor Register, you can do so online www.uktransplant.org.uk or by calling the NHS Organ Donor Line: 0845 60 60 400.

Ursula lives in Skelmersdale with her son Connor aged 13. 

Research Shows Doodling Can Help Memory Recall

DOODLING while listening can help with remembering details, rather than implying that the mind is wandering as is the common perception.  According to a study in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology, subjects given a doodling task while listening to a dull phone message had a 29% improved recall compared to their non-doodling counterparts.  40 members of the research panel of the Medical Research Council's Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit in Cambridge were asked to listen to a 2 and a half minute tape giving several names of people and places, and were told to write down only the names of people going to a party.  20 of the students were asked to shade in shapes on a piece of paper at the same time, but paying no attention to neatness.  Participants were not asked to doodle naturally so that they would not become self-conscious.  None of the participants were told it was a memory test.  After the tape had finished, all participants in the study were asked to recall the 8 names of the party-goers which they were asked to write down, as well as 8 additional place names which were included as incidental information.  The doodlers recalled on average 7.5 names of people and places compared to only 5.8 by the non-doodlers.  “If someone is doing a boring task, like listening to a dull telephone conversation, they may start to daydream.  Daydreaming distracts them from the task, resulting in poorer performance.  A simple task, like doodling, may be sufficient to stop daydreaming without affecting performance on the main task.  In psychology, tests of memory or attention will often use a second task to selectively block a particular mental process.  If that process is important for the main cognitive task then performance will be impaired.  My research shows that beneficial effects of secondary tasks, such as doodling, on concentration may offset the effects of selective blockade.  This study suggests that in everyday life doodling may be something we do because it helps to keep us on track with a boring task, rather than being an unnecessary distraction that we should try to resist doing.” said study researcher Professor Jackie Andrade, Ph.D., of the School of Psychology, University of Plymouth.  This study is published in the journal Applied Cognitive Psychology.  Full citation:- Andrade J.; What Does Doodling do?; Appl.  Cognit.  Psychol.  23: 1–7 (2009); DOI: 10.1002/acp.1561

CENTRICA SHOULD USE PROFITS TO CUT BILLS

ENERGY company Centrica should cut customers’ bills said UNISON, the UK’s largest public service union. The union is calling for a comprehensive review into energy prices by the Competition Commission, in the wake of the £379m profit announcement made by Centrica, for its residential arm - British Gas.  Steve Bloomfield, UNISON’s Head of Utilities said:- “In these tough financial times Centrica’s profits are a reflection of the hard work of UNISON members and their dedication to continuous improvement in the quality of service.  The rise in energy bills over the last few years has hit people hard and it is time to give back to customers some of those profits by cutting bills. We need a comprehensive review by the Competition Commission into the energy industry to ensure that customers are given a fair deal.  We welcome the company’s investment plans in green energy but they need to do even more if the UK has any real chance of meeting its carbon reduction targets.  The company also needs to look at how it rewards its own workforce. We want to ensure that jobs remain firmly based here in the UK.”