Baby Poppy's life hung in the balance.

At just three months old, she was having a major cardiac arrest. Poppy's mum, Estelle, remembers exactly what the doctors at her local hospital told her: Poppy's heart is not beating very well, it is not pumping the blood through her body. You have to be transported to Starship.

At Starship, Poppy was diagnosed with a chronic heart condition called dilated cardiomyopathy. That's when she was rushed into Starship's Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU).

Poppy stayed in PICU for a total of eight months, including her first Christmas, fighting to get well. Thankfully Poppy is now well enough that she was sent home with her loving family to Hamilton.
 

Awesome Outpatients

Starship Outpatients upgrade before and after

Outpatients is a crucial service that sees over 13,000 outpatients every year. But the facilities had become inadequate for the high demand, with little refurbishment in nearly 30 years.

Mercury customer donations helped fund a huge $1.8m refurbishment, transforming Outpatients into a bright, modern, functional environment. Opened in November 2019, the new plaster room, procedure rooms, bed spaces and staff base will significantly improve patient care and safety, transform the experience for patients and their families and enable clinics to run much more efficiently.