Meet our essential workers

June 1, 2020

I provide operational leadership, support and supervision to the hospice team. I manage staff rostering to provide safe effective care to our kids. I care for children with life limiting conditions and their families during respite stays and at end-of-life. I have been at Very Special Kids for almost six years and I still always get a sense of fulfilment after working in the hospice.

It is a privilege to care for a child and their family during this time. If I can help alleviate any of the pain suffered I will. The pain, agony that our families go through when they lose their child is hard to watch. But at Very Special Kids we are there to support them at this time, in the best way we possibly can.

Many of the children we look after have complex needs, requiring numerous medications for symptom control and medical interventions, this is a lot for any parent to undertake. It is important to us that parents can be parents and they are given the space and time to make lasting memories with their child that they can treasure, whilst we take care of their medical needs in the background and do whatever we can to make their time with us as special as can be.

I will never forget the chocolate party! A five-year-old boy who was with us for end-of-life care loved chocolate, so of course I promised him I would throw him a chocolate party. When I came on shift, we threw the BEST chocolate party you could imagine with his siblings and parents, he talked about it for days! These are the moments we create for our families at Very Special Kids, if we can do it, we will.

At the moment we aren’t throwing chocolate parties, but we are still doing everything we can to ensure that every child and family is taken care of. It is a true privilege, to care for a child and their family during this time.

Please donate to help us continue to provide essential care when families need it most.