Since 2003 with the help of the local community, we have been providing our free care services for children and families who know they don’t have long together, and we give them the chance to live life to the full and say goodbye in the way that is right for them. We support families across the whole of Sussex and South East Hampshire and currently we are supporting nearly 300 children and their families.
When a family has a child that they know won’t live to fulfil many of their hopes, dreams and ambitions and may also have complex care needs during its short life, they need care, support and often some respite and normality in their 24/7 lives of relentless hospital appointments, medication and illness.
We can offer this at our home-from-home hospice near Arundel. The children can come and stay for a day, a night, a weekend or up to 2 weeks at Chestnut Tree House to enjoy all our facilities and a range of activities whilst giving mum and dad a break from the daily care. This can include a lovely warm swim with their family in our very special warm hydrotherapy pool, some relaxing time in our multi-sensory room with therapeutic visual lighting and making some noise in the fully equipped music room. Then in the evening they can watch a film in the cinema with pop-corn and pizza, or play in the magic carpet room with interactive games.
We also get the children outside as much as possible in our lovely grounds and special Woodland Walk, specifically designed with wheelchairs in mind. We have teddy bear picnics, music and story time outside. We do messy activities like pendulum painting – we hang the paint from the tree and swing it across the paper, and wheelchair painting when we put a big sheet of paper on bubble wrap, drop paint on top, and the children run their wheelchairs over the top. It’s such a delight to see them enjoy the popping sounds at they create their own masterpieces.
We have a team of specially trained nurses and carers to visit them in their own homes to provide respite, medical support, day trips out and give the rest of the family a break and time out together. It doesn’t stop when the Care Team leave the families’ homes, they are always on the other end of the phone to provide support, be a friendly voice of comfort, and offer a safe port in a sea of life-changing diagnoses and round the clock care.
