Making Precious Memories for Children and Their Families
Accessing end of life care for children can be an incredibly difficult experience for families. Working closely with the Children’s Palliative Care team, BCHC Charity fund several projects, initiatives, and items to support children, and their families and loved ones, during their last months. These items help families build wonderful memories together, provide treasured keepsakes, and aid families and carers in processing their grief.
For example, our Bereavement Memory Boxes are a lovely way for families to celebrate the life of their child. There is an inset on the lid of the box to display a treasured photograph and they can be filled with all sorts of personal items, toys, and trinkets to create a box of wonderful memories.
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, each January BCHC Charity provided tickets to families accessing end of life care for their child to the pantomime at the Birmingham Hippodrome. Families who have attended these performances have had a truly wonderful time, and many have told the clinicians they see that they were “so happy to be able to share that experience” with their families. During the 2020 festive period we were unable to provide pantomime tickets due to the pandemic, and therefore we worked with local artist Hannah Clark to provide bespoke framed art prints for our Community Children’s Nurses and Children’s Palliative Care services. 100 prints were given as gifts to families under the care of these teams as a means to brighten the children's day and provide a lasting celebration of the child’s life for their families. Senior Community Paediatric Palliative Care Nurse Abbie Alcock was very grateful for the charming prints; “Our families have loved them so much, and it’s so lovely to have such personal things to give out.”
We also provide funding for the provision of picture books about bereavement to, so that siblings of the children accessing our services can learn about grief, coping mechanisms, and help them process a loss in the family, as well as toys for clinic rooms and waiting areas, and much more.
If you would like to donate to help support our palliative care initiatives, please visit our End of Life appeal page.