This week the 64 Trust celebrated its donation of £1 million to Claire House Children’s Hospice to help the charity reach more severely and terminally ill children in Merseyside.
The donation will be spent on developing facilities at the charity’s site in West Derby, Liverpool and providing vital support across both hospice sites in the Wirral and Liverpool for children and families who have been pushed to their limits during the pandemic.
“Covid has had a massive impact on the Merseyside families who come to Claire House. The 64 Trust’s generous donation gives us security to know we can continue to provide our current services and reach out to more families, who right now are struggling without the help they desperately need. We can also take the next step in developing facilities at our Liverpool site, and ultimately move one step closer in our ambition to one day build a second hospice,” said David Pastor, CEO at Claire House.
64 Trustee, Anne Lundon, said: “We are incredibly proud to be able to give Claire House Children’s Hospice this donation. As a charity, we have always admired the kindness, commitment and care the hospice has provided over many years for children and their families across Liverpool.
“Claire House goes above and beyond, often becoming the only place for parents at an incredibly difficult time in their lives. It has a special place in the hearts of thousands in the city and the wider region.
“It is testament to the staff, nurses and wider team at the hospice, and the heroic work they do to care for ill children, that the board of trustees unanimously recommended the donation.
“We hope the money will go some way in alleviating the pressures on Claire House so they can carry on caring for children in the years ahead.”
The money will be spent on developing the site in Liverpool from where the charity currently offers day care, clinics, play and music sessions, complementary therapies and counselling. During the pandemic the site has become even more important to the organisation, increasing its capacity to deliver Covid-safe services to many families facing the death of a child at the most difficult of times.
Covid restrictions have also had a devastating impact on Claire House families’ mental health and their grieving process and the charity has seen a big increase in complementary therapy referrals. One of the main elements of the project is to create an enhanced Complementary Therapy Suite, which will include two rooms and new equipment, allowing the team to offer a range of services to families such as massage, reiki and aromatherapy.
Funds will also be spent on:
- Building up our nursing team by creating five new posts and sustaining our existing respite and nursing service
- Refurbishing our Hydrotherapy Pool at Claire House Wirral
- Antenatal classes to support expectant parents through a pregnancy that is likely to result in their child having complex needs or sadly surviving for just a short period of time
- Improving equipment, such as providing nurses with new tablets and a new ‘specialist cuddle bed’ where parents can cuddle their child when they are receiving end of life care
