Children’s hospice provision in Hungary has a short history of just three, which has created a substantial lag behind other similar organisations in Europe. Dóri House in Pécs is Hungary’s first children’s hospice and experience drawn from the short period we have been in operation shows that we still have much to learn. This realisation accounts for our initiative some weeks ago to visit the Rainbows Hospice for Children and Young People facility in Loughborough, with its rich 20 year history.
Arriving at Rainbows
We arrived at Rainbows with a team consisting of five young co-workers including Viktória, our head of nursing, István, the Chief Executive Officer, Évaour fundraising manager, and our chief of financing and HR, Ramóna. We were keen to learn not only the joys of children’s hospice, but also the pitfalls and problems likely to occur. As a fledgling service provider we are eager to avoid these pitfalls. We so appreciate and value the candid and friendly atmosphere in which our colleagues in England received and hosted us.
On the first day we participated in a house tour, where we were enchanted by the excellent and beautiful places, the large community spaces, the play-room, the apartment-like room for young adults, the soft play room and pool where even the respirator-aided children have the opportunity to swim and bathe. Our favourite, certainly, was the snoezelen, multi-sensory room which even us adults had difficulty leaving. We marvelled at the new project of Rainbows, the special exercise hall for the children. We were also impressed by the cough-assist machine.
We have found that sponsors often prefer to provide money for the purchase of material objects and tools rather than for operational costs and overheads, so seeing these outstanding fixtures was of great value.
We were so privileged to enjoy lunch in the Rainbows restaurant together with the staff and children and were fascinated with the professionalism and excellent organization to be found in every aspect of the house and the dedication of the 150 workers and the host of volunteers. It was clear that each and every person knew what his/her duty was and the boundaries of each position.
Over the next three days we were able to meet with various leaders who were amused that when asked which protocols we were keen to learn about from a 5 page list, we selected all of them. After what we had seen, we wanted to learn everything they could teach us!
So much to learn
We learnt so much from David about bereavement therapy and gained many ideas and materials on communication from Scott. I had no idea whatever that there are trends in fundraising campaigns for children’s hospice which change year in year out! Sanjay showed us tricks with graphics and we listened with pleasure to the account of Paul on the building up and coordination of the volunteers’ network. We are grateful to Marion Borg for teaching us about the challenges of HR work in England, while Ronald earned our respect by sharing his advice and the organization’s preciously guarded secrets concerning online marketing, the growth of the proceeds of the webshop and the tipping of the scales towards the positive!
The director of care, Alison, and her colleagues showed us important new trends in nursing, so the picture is beginning to clear for us not only in the area of policies and protocols but owing to this experience, our work can improve in the area of family support in the year 2015.
We are sure that it will take several weeks to fully digest the experiences and process the information and materials before adapting them to the Hungarian context. However, we know that will be worth all our effort and sometime in the future we shall be on a par with our British counterparts.
Grateful
There are no words to describe how grateful we are for what we learnt during our visit and for all the advice we received,along with a wealth of ideas and tips for avoiding pitfalls upon our return home. This visit has contributed enormously to our knowledge base and to the further growth and development of the Hungarian children’s hospice institution to enable us to provide a quality service to the 16,000 affected children within our region. We extend our grateful thanks to Doctor Satbir Jassal for this study tour and for organising this wonderful opportunity for us.
In search of volunteers
Dóri House, the children’s hospice run by the Light Of My Eyes Foundation opened in 2011 and experience many of the difficulties that similar organisations go through in the early stages of development. Due to a shortage of expertise they would like to encourages English speaking volunteers with relevant qualifications in children’s palliative care to volunteer some time in their hospice in return for board and lodgings. You can read more about this opportunity at: http://www.icpcn.org/anage-volunteers-sought-by-pioneer-childrens-hospice-in-hungary/
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