Vote for Jessie May and Help Support Terminally Ill Children and Their Families This April

Posted on 24 Mar 2020 by Amy Jackson

Jessie May is the only charity in the South West to offer individual and specialist at-home hospice support to terminally ill children. Unlike the more traditional hospice model where a family would have to physically travel to a hospice setting, Jessie May nurses provide free professional nursing care at home. For many families, being at home helps them to cope with the enormous pressures of caring for a life-limited child. Home is a familiar and comforting place for their children, helping to give them a better quality of life. And home is where many parents prefer to be when they face the unimaginable – when their child is reaching the end of life, enabling them to spend precious time together as a family, caring for their child and building memories that they can cherish in the months and years to come. There is quite simply, no place like home.Jessie May Logo


The children Jessie May supports are seriously ill, with many having disabilities so severe they struggle to communicate or move without a wheelchair. They all need intensive, long-term medical and physical care. Parents find themselves administering complex clinical treatments, sleeping in hour-long shifts to make sure their child continues to breathe, rarely being able to leave the family home and surviving on one (or no) wage as they give up work to care for their child. Family life can be confusing, exhausting, and often governed by a timetable of nursing and medical needs.

 

What Does the Hospice at Home Service Offer?


Jessie May’s hospice at home service is a lifeline to families and includes:

- Regular respite care from one of Jessie May’s professional nurses. During a visit, nurses take over caring responsibilities of the child, allowing parents to have a much needed break and the child some independent time to play. These nurses are trained to administer medication or carry out other medical procedures such as suctioning or tube feeding, incorporate play and stimulation as appropriate, and provide practical and emotional support for parents.

- Social and support events to reduce isolation and improve the quality of life for the whole family. The charity runs free respite activities to give children a range of experiences that their disabilities usually prevent them from taking part in. They also give families the opportunity to meet other families caring for a terminally ill child in a social setting that they know will be safe and appropriate for their needs.

- Highly intensive, specialist end of life care which empowers families to give their child the life and death they want for them in the comfort of their own home.

- Five years bereavement support for families following the death of their child which includes nurses visits, telephone support and invitations to the charity’s Purple Group peer to peer support events.

No family pays a penny for the support they receive from Jessie May. Their nurses are only able to be there by each family’s side because of the kind support the charity gets from donations and supporters.

Cast your vote for Jessie May this April in our charity poll to help ensure terminally ill children and families are given the support they need. Thank you. Find out more about the charity and the work they do by visiting their website

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