News Release

Now UC Him, Now You Don't

Busy Santa Uses Cisco Video Link to Speak to Children in Hospital
cisco_building_corporate_002-jpg-1889882-1-0
Dec 18, 2008

Date/Time Stamp: December 18, 2008

Highlights/Key Milestones:

  • Children at hospitals across the UK and Ireland can stop worrying about Santa being too busy to visit them in the hospital this Christmas. With the help of video communications technology from Cisco, he is today 'dropping in' to speak to them directly about their Christmas wish lists.
  • Using Cisco® Unified Communications (UC) technology, young patients and their families in Bristol's Royal Hospital for Children, The Royal Hospital for Sick Children (Yorkhill) in Glasgow and Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin in Ireland, can speak directly to Santa via a video link installed in each hospital. The children can share their Christmas wishes with Santa, while Santa's elf helpers, in the form of Cisco staff, will be on hand to give gifts in person to the children.
  • Cisco's Santa Claus Connection enables children who are unable to leave hospital during the festive period to share in some of the Christmas spirit. Now in its second year in the U.K., the programme has benefited children in the U.S., Canada and Germany over the last five years.
  • Cisco employees have contributed more than 100 individual presents, and donated funds totalling more than £1,500 so that everyone can have a Christmas wish come true.

Video:

Photo:

Quotes:

  • David Meads, director of financial services and CSR lead for Cisco, UK and Ireland
  • "Santa's extremely busy in the run-up to December 25, but using video communications technology, he's able to meet with some of the young patients. We hope the Santa Claus Connection will give the children something to smile about this Christmas. Their bravery, and the dedication of those who care for them, have been an inspiration to us all."

  • Jamie Redfern, hospital general manager at The Royal Hospital for Sick Children (Yorkhill) in Glasgow
  • "The children in our hospital miss out on some of the exciting activities that usually happen around Christmas with their family and friends. The Santa Claus Connection really helps make Christmas special for them, and helps make what may be a very difficult period for the children and their families a little easier to bear. The Cisco team have really helped make Christmas special for many young people here, and for that we are very grateful."

Case Study:

Santa Claus Uses Cisco Video Phone Technology to Deliver Old-Fashioned Christmas Cheer at Hospitals in Canada, Germany, and the United States

Tags/Keywords:

Cisco, Santa Claus, Christmas, Hospitals, Charity, Children, Unified Communications, Santa Claus Connection, Video Conferencing, ENGLAND, IRELAND, SCOTLAND, elf, video link

Links/URLS:

RSS Feed for Cisco: http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/rss.html