Gaming joy for WA’s sick kids: New gaming carts gifted to PCH in first-time donation

When Jayden Daniel attends hospital every five weeks for an infusion he craves any sort of distraction to help him get through the treatment that takes all day.

Three new gaming carts donated to Perth Children’s Hospital will now bring this entertaining relief to kids like Jayden at their bedsides.

His mum Resmi John-Daniel said the 10-year-old had a condition, which suppresses his immune system meaning he needs intravenous immunoglobulin infusions every five weeks.

“The infusion takes nearly five hours so hopefully this helps him get through it as usually I have to bring things to distract him,” she said.

“It will be nice for the kids.”

It is the first time the gaming stations, which have Switch and XBOX consoles installed, have been donated to a West Australian hospital.

The idea stemmed from Chalmers Family Foundation founder Oscar Chalmers, who was only 11 when he saw a Youtuber donate two of the gaming carts to a hospital in the US.

After showing his parents and getting in contact with the designer Gamers Outreach, he managed to get two gaming carts in an Australian hospital.

“We thought that it was a really good idea,” he said.

“We brought in two of them, and then fundraised for another two and this is now our 30th gaming cart in Australia and New Zealand.”

The gaming stations at PCH are able to be rolled around to different wards and to kids’ bedsides to help them get through gruelling treatments.

Oscar’s mum Sandy Chalmers said the fact these gaming carts came about due to a kid’s idea and were now helping other children was “huge”.

“We know Perth Children’s Hospital gets the sickest kids coming here from all over WA so it can make a really positive impact on a lot of children by having these here,” she said.

“Oscar’s two older brothers certainly spent quite a bit of time in a hospital in Melbourne so we know what that journey is like for families but if you can make it a bit more fun or enjoyable, if we can distract kids from what they’re going through then that’s huge.”