The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (PAHT) have received an astonishing £10,000 donation to help fund specialist child bereavement training and purchase new bereavement resources.
Sadly, hundreds of families across the UK are affected by the loss of a child every year; the generous donation from the Essex Freemasons, a social and charitable organisation, will help to make a real difference in the care and support they receive at PAHT and across the whole of Essex.
Sharon McNally, director of nursing, midwifery and allied healthcare professionals said “The support we have received from the Essex Freemasons has been truly heart-warming. The funds will allow our family and women’s team to boost their skills and deliver the best possible care and support when dealing with one of the hardest situations they will face in their career – bereavement.”
Andrea Brewis, lead practitioner from the family and women’s team, at The Princess Alexandra Hospital said: “A huge thank you to the Essex Freemasons – this amazing donation for the team is fabulous and will be used for the benefit of bereaved families and staff development in this very challenging role.
“We will purchase further resources that are offered to families following a bereavement, including, children’s information and activity books, and comforting aids such as teddies, worry dolls and gobble monsters that help to assist conversations with their other children about their feelings.
“The team also offer memory boxes to capture personal keepsakes and memories of their child, such as their child’s footprint and a lock of their hair.”
Rob Whittingham, chairman of the teddies for loving care appeal in Essex said, “I am also delighted to say that the support will not stop there. We have been supplying teddies to A&E departments and walk-in centres in every Essex hospital as well as Whipps Cross Hospital and the Essex and Herts Air Ambulance, which are given to child patients suffering trauma and distress. When we learnt this team were also using teddies to help children suffering the trauma of a death close to them we were very happy to include them in the TLC family and have today supplied them with their first batch of teddies.
This was a charity initiative which started in Essex 20 years and which is now supported by Masons worldwide with three million having been supplied to date and almost half a million in Essex alone.”
The teddies will now be used by the PAHT family and women’s team alongside the books, leaflets and other visual aids, to help young children cope through difficult times.