It’s the good news story that went viral. Sarah is a 22-year-old who lives with an intellectual disability. Unfortunately for Sarah, she became infected with COVID and required hospitalization during the height of the COVID wave.
It’s the good news story that went viral. Sarah is a 22-year-old who lives with an intellectual disability. Unfortunately for Sarah, she became infected with COVID and required hospitalisation during the height of the COVID wave.
Her symptoms began to worsen and she was admitted to ICU alongside her father as her supportive carer. Intensive Care can be a scary place, even more so for Sarah. Despite the best efforts of the ICU team Sarah had to be sedated and put onto a ventilator to supply her body with higher level oxygen. This has been a common occurrence for patients suffering from COVID, as the body is unable to cope with the effects of the virus and high-level oxygen needs to be administered.
The ICU team knew that waking Sarah from an induced coma was going to be challenging as her intellectual disability made ICU even more frightening. However, one dedicated nurse decided to embark on a challenge to help Sarah. Steven Moylan gained permission from Sarah’s family, the ICU Executive Team and the Royal Melbourne Communications Teams. He then began a long journey of enquiries. After 35 phone calls and countless emails, Steven managed to get in contact with none other than world-famous Australian superstars and Sarah’s all-time favourite band - The Wiggles!
Steven, keeping possibly 2021’s biggest secret to himself, couriered equipment from ICU to The Wiggles studio in New South Wales and got a personalised video made for Sarah. Anthony (Blue Wiggle) and Simon (Red Wiggle post-Murray) created a personal video for Sarah so she would keep her oxygen on and understand what the nurses needed for her to recover and discharge from ICU. Sarah woke from the sedation after three weeks on a ventilator with the aid of The Wiggles and recovered from her COVID illness. The video of The Wiggles was played on numerous occasions by Sarah and brought tears to the eyes of many ICU staff.
The video produced for Sarah not only helped her recovery, but Steven’s efforts to obtain the help of a world-famous band, who were happy to assist Sarah’s recovery is an excellent example of leading with kindness and putting people first.
Steven was awarded the You Made a Difference Award, won a holiday courtesy of A Current Affair and was awarded a medal of recognition from the Governor General. Sarah continues to recover from her illness and hospital stay, and still enjoys The Wiggles.
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