Copy write 2018 LINKING HANDS CHARITY UK
Registered Office:
EACH, 42 High Street, Milton, Cambridge, CB24 6DF
EACH supports children, young people and their families with the challenges that having a life-threatening condition can often bring. We provide care and support wherever the family wishes – in families’ own homes, in hospital or at one of our hospices in Quidenham, Ipswich or Milton.
Caring for a child with a life-threatening illness, often for 24 hours a day, seven days a week over many years, can put a huge strain on family life. Often a child will need constant care through the day and night, and while families willingly invest love, energy and attention, life becomes completely governed by the relentless timetable of nursing and medical needs. Relationships can suffer, careers may have to be abandoned, healthy brothers and sisters can feel left out and regular family activities and holidays can be rare. On top of all this, families often feel alone and afraid in their grief.
The multi-disciplinary care team at Milton Children’s Hospice helps local life-threatened children and their families with the emotional and physical challenges they face, helping them to make the most of life. They welcome the whole family for a break together or time to themselves in a home-from-home environment or in the comfort of their own home
The range of services include...
• Day care in the family home or hospice, or both • Overnight breaks in the hospice • Support for parents, siblings, grandparents and others close to the child • 24 hour telephone support and advice • Therapies - music, physio, occupational and specialist play • Family information service • End of life care in the family home or the hospice depending on family preference • Annual Memory Days and ongoing support for bereaved families
During last year over 100 families were cared for by EACH’s Milton care team.
Holistic care
East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) supports families and cares for children and young people with life-threatening conditions across East Anglia. Our services include specialist nursing care, symptom management support, short breaks, wellbeing activities, therapies and counselling; all meeting the individual needs of the child, young person and whole family.
“We arrived at the hospice feeling scared and alone. We had so many questions – they answered them all and more.”
We offer families flexibility and control over where they receive their care and support, including where their child dies; at home, in hospital or at one of two local hospices in Milton in Cambridgeshire, Quidenham in Norfolk or at The Treehouse in Ipswich.
More than half of our care and support is delivered in the family home and community, for convenience and in surroundings familiar and comfortable for the child or young person.
Our services aren’t just about end of life care; they’re often centred around happy and fun activities, allowing young people to live life to their full potential.
When time is short, we help families make the most of their precious time together and create memories that last forever.
“I didn’t realise hope was a gift until I became a mum. My little boy taught me many things and that was one of them”
Such intensive, personal care does not come cheap: this year alone it will cost around £10 million to run the charity across the region and we rely on voluntary donations for the majority of our income. No charge is made to those families using the services, so fundraising and the goodwill of the public are vital.
The more funds we have, the bigger difference we can make to local children and families.
HRH The Duchess of Cambridge
Our Royal Patron
In January 2012 we were honoured and extremely proud to announce that Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge would become our Royal Patron and we are extremely grateful for her dedication and support. The announcement recognised the work we do both locally and nationally and was welcomed by staff, volunteers and the children, young people and families we support.
Shortly after the news of the Duchess’s patronage, Her Royal Highness formally opened our Treehouse hospice in Ipswich meeting staff, volunteers and families and also made her first public address – an occasion of great historical significance and international media interest.
Thanks to the Duchess of Cambridge we have also been able to make contact with a hospice in Malaysia, whom we hope to work with to develop services and share best practice. This relationship follows a visit to Hospis Malaysia in September 2012 as part of a tour by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to Singapore, Malaysia, Solomon Islands and Tuvalu in celebration of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
In April 2014, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge visited New Zealand and Australia where they met with Gabrielle and Paul Quilliam; co-founders of the charity Queensland Kids which is working to open Hummingbird House – a children’s
hospice for Queensland. In August 2014 EACH entered into an International Children’s Palliative Care Network twinning agreement with Queensland Kids to support the start-up phase of Hummingbird House, offering advice on organisational structure and the development of their model of care, staff training and charity shop strategy. You can see more about these two relationships in Our Friends Overseas page.
In April 2013, The Duchess of Cambridge celebrated Children’s Hospice Week, by recording her first ever video message to encourage people to support children’s hospices.
Inspired by the care and support we deliver, which The Duchess of Cambridge described as ‘remarkable’, the video message, which was recorded at Clarence House, was aired for the first time on Sunday April 28th to celebrate Children’s Hospice Week.
Children’s Hospice Week is the UK-wide awareness and fundraising campaign celebrating the work of children’s hospices and palliative care services. The week is run by Together for Short Lives; the UK children’s palliative care charity.
In June 2013, The Duchess of Cambridge, named Princess Cruises’ newest ship and became Godmother to ‘Royal Princess’. The naming ceremony was the highlight of week-long celebrations to welcome the vessel into service, which included a special naming gala on the evening of Wednesday 12th June. A bereaved family, who have received care and support from EACH, were special guests at the naming ceremony. Alie Rowbotham along with her daughter Izzie, 15 and son Charlie, 8, and their dad Mick, attended. Izzie and Charlie presented The Duchess with a pair of scissors to cut the rope for the bottle break.
In July 2013, HRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s son Prince George was born. The birth of Their Royal Highness’s baby has had some real benefits for EACH. We saw increased media coverage to raise awareness and interest, fundraising pages were set up in the UK and US with people making donations in lieu of gifts, social media interaction increased and a number of gifts were donated either for use within organisation or for fundraising including children’s furniture from Slovenia, a hand carved cradle from Poland and a bracelet. To celebrate George’s 1st birthday, we encouraged people to host fundraising tea parties through the East Anglia’s Biggest Birthday Party campaign.
In June 2014 The Duchess of Cambridge once again supported Children’s Hospice Week and visited The Treehouse to learn more about the services that are required for families with seriously ill children, and especially the role that volunteers can play for children's hospices, which is an issue she is exploring further with her Foundation.
HRH The Duchess of Cambridge continues to be committed in her role as EACH Royal Patron and her involvement is a real asset to the work we do in providing care and support to life-threatened children, young people and their families across East Anglia.
Care and support for children and young people
We offer a family-centred, needs-led approach to care, ensuring all of the needs of the children and young people we care for are met - whether psychological, physical, emotional, social or spiritual.
Care delivery can take place in a variety of settings including at home and in the hospice. Care and support is provided by qualified nurses, clinical nurse specialists, counsellors, care assistants, play specialists, music therapists, art therapists, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, a family therapist, a psychologist, spiritual care advisors, chaplains, chefs and housekeeping staff, and a consultant nurse.
Day care and short breaks
If you're caring for a child or young person with a life-threatening illness, often for 24 hours a day, seven days a week you can feel like a huge strain has been placed on your family life. We hear families telling us that their lives are governed by the timetable of nursing and medical needs.
Our day care and short break services aim to ease this pressure. Our care team can visit your home to relieve you of your care duties or you can bring your child to the hospice for care either during the day or overnight. There's often the option of staying with your child at the hospice too if you would like - all of our services are tailored to you.
While at the hospice your child will have access to other services - the use of our sensory room, specialist play, art and music therapy among others.
symptom Management Nursing Service The EACH Symptom Management Nursing Service are a team of specialist nurses who work closely with families, children, young people and other professionals involved in their care, providing symptom management advice and support. The team's aims are... to provide families with the choices to manage their child's health needs and symptoms to work in partnership with families to develop an individual symptom management plan which can be used by everyone working with them.
symptom Management Nursing Service The EACH Symptom Management Nursing Service are a team of specialist nurses who work closely with families, children, young people and other professionals involved in their care, providing symptom management advice and support. The team's aims are... to provide families with the choices to manage their child's health needs and symptoms to work in partnership with families to develop an individual symptom management plan which can be used by everyone working with them.
