A desire to help ease children’s pain is the driving force behind rising Marist School senior Elizabeth McCall’s fundraising effort for Children’s Heathcare of Atlanta’s cancer unit.
McCall, only $600 away from reaching her goal, is asking the public to help meet or exceed that benchmark.
McCall, who has a special interest in CHOA and its AFLAC Cancer Center, met with hospital personnel and asked them for tools that were needed but outside the organization’s budget.
“They told me about the Buzzies, which seemed like a really cool idea and something they really need,” McCall said. “It is very kid-friendly because it looks like a toy, but it serves a purpose.”
A Buzzy, according to the Royal Children’s Hospital website, is a small vibrating toy-like plastic bee with blue ice-pack wings that was invented by Amy Baxter, a pediatric doctor and pain researcher.
In the same way that running cold water over a burn soothes it, the Buzzy uses a combination of cold and vibration to replace injection or infusion pain with temperature and movement.
“A Buzzy is a handheld device that acts as a massager to naturally and quickly minimize sharp pain, from 50-80%, from needle sticks like blood draws and finger pricks,” McCall said. “Many children at the center experience this type of medical treatment.”
Each Buzzy costs about $50, so McCall has set a $2,500 goal so she can purchase 50 of the units.
McCall has established a Go Fund Me Page with the goal of collecting as much money as she can by mid-June. About 40 people have already contributed almost $1,900.