Hundreds of medical garments packed for kids in hospital
Being in hospital can be a scary, unpleasant experience for children, but the Supertee, a thoughtful and practical invention from father Jason Sotiris, is helping to lift the spirits of sick children.
The Supertee is a medical garment that features colourful, kid-friendly designs, including the Supertee Space Commander or Marvel characters Captain America and Captain Marvel.
An updated version of the hospital gown, the Supertee is designed specifically for children and gives parents and hospital staff an easier way to change garments while accessing and bypassing medical lines.
Recently a group of about 90 AMP Bank staff, supported by the AMp Foundation and led by head of lending and everyday banking distribution Paul Herbert (pictured above left), spent a few days packing almost 400 superhero packs containing Supertees for children.
Supertee was founded by Sotiris (pictured above right), a Sydney tradie who set up the children’s charity in 2018 when his daughter Angela was diagnosed with cancer at the age of one. Tumours were found throughout her body and Angela she was given a 20% chance of beating a rare, one in 100,000 disease.
One night, following months of treatment, Sotiris was sitting bedside next to Angela in hospital when she awoke and vomited due to the strong chemotherapy.
Attempting to help his daughter into clean clothes proved difficult and upsetting for her, and from there arose Sotiris’ plan to create a garment that could be changed easily whether the patient was awake or asleep.
With the help of a good friend and guidance of hospital nurses, a prototype Supertee was created and the product was officially launched in 2018, with Sotiris becoming CEO of the charity.
Since then, with the help of partners such as the AMP Foundation, the Supertee has assisted thousands of sick children and their parents across Australia.
More than 8,000 Supertees have been delivered and there are over 200 volunteers nationwide.
Herbert said Supertee was making a difference for kids in hospitals all over Australia.
“It was a privilege for the AMP Bank team to come together to do our bit,” he said. “I could not have been prouder of what we achieved, boxing up close to 400 superhero packs with love from the AMP Bank team.”
In a video taken on the day the AMP Bank team assisted Sotiris to pack the Supertees (see photos below), Herbert said they had partnered with Supertee “to bring sick kids great joy and happiness at a time that’s probably really challenging for them”.
Bringing together a group of AMP Bank staff from across Australia was not an opportunity that happened often.
“To be able to do this and give back to the community, and give my team a chance to work together and collaborate is really powerful,” said Herbert.
“There’s hundreds of young families and young kids that are going to get a Supertee to wear and help them on their journeys, hopefully to recovery … for many of us this was quite a humbling experience.”
Community is part of AMP Bank’s DNA, said Herbert. “Finding purposeful ways to give back to the community actually means something to the people at AMP – it means something to me and I know it means a lot for my team.”
Herbert said for those who had difficulty finding the time or means to give back to communities, helping pack Supertees was a neat way to start that journey “or rekindle something they’ve done in the past’.”
“I would say to anyone considering a team-building event or a day in the office, it’s a selfless way to give back and the benefits you and your team are going to get will be absolutely incredible.”
Herbert urged companies to get on board and support Supertee.
For more information about hosting a packing event go to https://fundraise.supertee.org.au/corporate-opportunities/team-building-event or for more information on Supertee, visit supertee.org.au
