The Pécs-based Light of My Eyes Foundation has been operating Dóri House, a service for children with palliative care needs, for the past 5 years. The Foundation has made a decision to build a brand new, purpose built children’s hospice facility in the town of Romonya near Pécs. The foundation’s chairman, Barbara Gyura, recently spoke to the media about this exciting new project.
She described the design of the new hospice which was based on research into relevant literature as well as experience and knowledge gained from visiting other such facilities abroad. The centre at Romonya will be built on a site of more than 20 thousand square metres, and the building will have a base area of 1400 square metres and be designed in the shape of a butterfly. She explained that even the minutest detail within the plan has its significance, such as the size of the patient’s rooms, their interior design and the need for therapy rooms, thus allowing the provision of the most up-to-date services to be provided.
The new hospice will be built on two levels but the layout allows for the entire care of the children be done on the lower level which will comply to accessibility standards. Other more esoteric factors have also been taken into account by the architects such as having all the children’s rooms able to capitalise on as much sunshine as possible and having glass walls in the therapy rooms.The significance being to allow as much colour and light into the children’s lives and enhancing their experiences while they are there. These considerations have not been possible in Dóri
House due to limited space. The new hospice we will have sufficient space for numerous festivities, celebrations, support groups and club activities, all of which form an important part of long-term inpatient care of children with chronic illnesses and their families.
The building will house 8 rooms for children, each with a single bed. A separate wing with 6 rooms will be built for the care of young adults so there will be 14 rooms in total and will service children from infants and toddlers up to 35 years. This means that they will be able to provide a smooth transition into adult services for the young adults in their care. The hospice also plans to offer day care to patients who are being cared for at home by their parents.
Therapy rooms
A key element of the design will be a hydrotherapeutic pool where even the breathing-assisted children can bathe, with the support of five people. Barbara explained that they presently care for a young patient named Dóri Sziládi who has always dreamed of getting into a swimming pool and will now be able to experience this. The plans include two large community play-rooms where therapeutic activities and community events can be held, a music therapy room equipped with all kinds of musical instruments as well as a multi-sensory room in which there will be a waterbed as well as different devices that affect and appeal to the senses. The most interesting place will perhaps be the soft-toy room, a children’s empire with legions of toys and lined and padded entirely with washable sponges. A fitness room specifically designed for people with disabilities will be included, something that is rare, even in facilities in the west.
In addition two family apartments will be built as a ‘home-away-from-home’ to accommodate families of children who will be in the hospice for end-of-life care provision. There will also be a space created for solace, mourning and prayer.
The building has been designed to meet all government regulations and requirements, will be colourful and modern with large rooms and house the latest technology in order to improve the quality of life of the patients, provide them with an adventure while also ensuring their pain and symptoms are managed. There will be a nurse to care for each of the patients.
“We’re hoping to fulfill our vision that when they come here, the children can just be children,” says Barbara.
Building is expected to take 8 – 10 months and could begin as early as the coming fall, depending on getting sufficient funding. Asked about the cost of the hospice, Barbara explained that the first phase, the children’s hospice complex itself, will cost an approximate net amount of 450 million forints (US$1.13 million). Longer-term plans include an office building and an ambulance station, which is an additional 200 million forints. In terms of labour this would mean they would be able to employ approximately 80 persons, 20 of them local residents, living in Romonya. Annual maintenance costs would be equally as high taking wages and other costs into consideration.
Asked what message she wished to send to families who will use the complex, Barbara said: “First and foremost, we wish to provide them with relief from their burdens, which might mean three weeks per year at the facility completely free of charge. It’s a kind of respite that we’ll grant the family members. We’ve taken everything into account, including an arrangement that the parents’ rooms will not open toward the children’s room, so that they too can rest. Besides which, the building will be located in a landscaped environment, with a small lake in the park.”
How can you support this project?
To support the building of the new children’s hospice and help to remove the ‘taboo’ around children’s hospices in Hungary people are invited to volunteer, to donate smaller or bigger sums of money, fill one of the cars up with gas, provide the cost of a salary of one of their nurses, and, perhaps, put a gift-collecting coin-box on a public desk at your workplace.
If you wish to donate directly to Light of My Eyes Foundation, their banking details are as follows:
Name of the foundation: Light of My Eyes Foundation
Postal address: Gém u. 7. – 7634 – Pécs – Hungary
Account handling bank: Szigetvári Takarékszövetkezet
Bank account no: 50800111 11083762
For remittance from abroad: IBAN: HU24 50800111 11083762 00000000 – SWIFT code: TAKBHUHB
Bank address: Bajcsy-Zsilinszky E. utca 7. – 7622 – Pécs / Hungary
Account handling bank: UniCredit Bank
Bank account no: 10918001 00000033 67470006
For remittance from abroad: IBAN: HU77 10918001 00000033 67470006 – SWIFT code: BACXHUHB
Bank address: Szabadság tér 5-6.- 1054 – Budapest / Hungary
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