Charity

Captains' Charity Day - TBC

Captain Mark & Lady Captain Jules  are delighted to introduce the Captains' Charity for this year,

East Anglian Children's Hospices (EACH)

East Anglia’s Children’s Charity (EACH) offers life long and all-encompassing supportive care for babies, children, young people and their families.   If required, this life-long support includes specialist nursing, therapies and ongoing wellbeing care through all the ups and downs and depending on a family’s needs and wishes, EACH provide care in one of their hospices at Milton, Treehouse Ipswich or the Nook Norfolk, in the family home, in hospital or in the wider community. This ensures every family receives care somewhere they feel safe and comfortable.  Their planned, coordinated end-of-life care ensures children are as comfortable as possible, and that families have everything they need to feel prepared and their specialist bereavement support is offered to the whole family, individually and in groups, and includes memory days for families to come together to remember their loved ones.   In the past year EACH supported 532 children and young people delivering over 92,000 hours of care and wellbeing, as well as end of life care for 47 children who sadly died in the past year.  

Currently EACH support 433 children and young people, along with 371 family members, and require over £20M every year to deliver this important service.  EACH, much like all children’s hospices across the country, only receive 15% from statutory sources with the remainder needing to be raised through their retail shops and fundraising activities.   In monetary terms that means they require £7.5M from fundraising, and £8.7M from retail income.   

How children get to be children

The brilliant team at EACH works together to enable the best possible quality of life for children, they make every moment count with fun, supportive activities and events, including the simple pleasures of play, water, art, and music.  Every young person, including those receiving hospice care, needs the same things to thrive – friendship, fun, family time, activities and laughter.  The  hospices are fun, happy and homely places for children to be children, and a dependable, supportive and restful space for families to be families. Parents and siblings are involved and supported throughout.  

EACH work together with families and other care professionals, like community nurses and specialist consultants, forging strong, close supportive relationships to ensure the best possible care and support.  They have a reputation for excellence and working collaboratively, sharing skills and expertise within our teams and in partnership with healthcare colleagues across the sector with all hospices rated ‘Outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission.

EACH Range of services

Our range of services is comprehensive, for both bereaved and non-bereaved families, and includes:

• Expert nursing care and short breaks

Special one-to-one time for the child at home and in the hospice, and a chance for mums, dads, grandparents and carers to recharge their batteries while spending time with their other children, family and friends.

• Symptom management nursing

Being there with specialist nursing care, advice and support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, wherever the child is being cared for.

• Family activities and events

Including family fun days, friendship-making opportunities for siblings and fun trips like visits to the zoo or seaside.

• Physical therapies 

This includes occupational therapy, hydrotherapy and physiotherapy.

• Wellbeing

Including counselling (one-to-one and group), art and music therapies, spiritual care and specialist play.

• Care at end of life

Planned, coordinated end-of-life care which ensures children are as comfortable as possible, and that families have everything they need to feel prepared.

• Bereavement support

Support for the whole family, including individual sessions, groups, and memory days.

• Practical help in the family home

Including everything from cooking and cleaning to gardening and DIY.

As Captains we have had the opportunity to visit the hospices, and to see firsthand the amazing and complex work they do, as well as hear more about it through the experiences of our General Manager Brad.   For those of you who are not aware Brad is a bereaved father whose son Stanley died in 2012 at the age of 18 months during his 3rd open heart surgery, and he and his wife Deb received support from EACH the very next day.    This support was offered through memory making, bereavement counselling in their home, and group sessions with other bereaved families, and every year along with their two boys they attend the Memory Days at the Hospice alongside other bereaved families.    Brad is also the current Chair of EACH and has been a Trustee since 2016.