05/10/2021
My Special Aflac DuckTM arrives in Northern Ireland
Aflac brings its award-winning robotic duck to the Children’s Cancer Unit Charity Northern Ireland
In a ground-breaking initiative for Northern Ireland, Aflac NI, which currently has 130 employees and is growing, has collaborated with The Children’s Cancer Unit Charity to make available its My Special Aflac Duck for cancer patients three years of age and older, free of charge.
This initiative broadens Aflac’s commitment to make My Special Aflac Duck more accessible to children in cancer treatment. Since 2018 and in partnership with more than 350 participating hospitals and cancer-related organisations, Aflac has distributed more than 12,000 robotic ducks to patients across the U.S. and Japan.
.The Bluetooth-enabled duck boasts a range of ground-breaking features, including feeling emoji cards, which can be pressed against its chest, generating a reaction that imitates how the child is feeling. It has a corresponding app that further enables medical play to help children cope with often scary and uncomfortable cancer treatments. Its removable plush exterior is machine washable, enabling easy care for parents. In 2018, Time Magazine named My Special Aflac Duck one of the top 50 inventions of the year.