volunteer week Archives - Association for the Wellbeing of Children in Healthcare

Little snails and tales, at lunch with hospital ward grandparents

17 December, 202027 May, 2015 by AWCH

At last an opportunity to try snails in Australia. When the time came to order I was absorbed listening to tales of hospital ward grandparents. With menu in hand and so many delicacies, I just pointed to the middle of the page, ahhh… duck liver pâté. All was not lost, at this gathering of over thirty hospital ward grandparent volunteers from over 6 hospitals across NSW, plates were scraped clean and for each of the three courses nobody appeared to regret their order.

“Grannies” who normally couldn’t envisage making room for dessert, simply didn’t have qualms when the time came. Once more, plates were left clean and all that remained were a few drips of sauce. Very little caramel was left on mine.

However, this was more than a delicious lunch at The Little Snail restaurant. It was an opportunity to celebrate National Volunteer Week 2015 and recognise the work of the AWCH Hospital Ward Grandparent volunteers to thank them for all they do to enhance the lives of sick children and their families in hospital. Volunteers spoke of times spent with shocked families in emergency waiting rooms, sharing toys and books with children and just being a supportive presence for parents. It was a proud moment when photos of a young boy were shared amongst volunteers who had cared for him over a number of years. They were on a journey with him and his family. This little boy with chubby cheeks and a winning smile had ‘graduated’ from hospital.

An informative guest speaker from Genetic Alliance Australia , Dianne, talked about their important work, giving listeners much food for thought. Genetic Alliance Australia supports families from the point of diagnosis and works towards making lives better for people living with rare diseases and genetic conditions. GAA is housed in the Garvan Institute of Medical Research building. This is where scientific advances are initiated and recent improvements in bringing early diagnosis to Australians has had a huge impact on people’s lives.

Lastly, in the spirit of fun, AWCH decided to give away some books that the ward grannies could read to their children. For a change the books were not about being sick. Instead the thought was to spark children’s imagination and take them to another place. The books aimed at pre-schoolers and school children were, Don’t let the pigeon ride the bus, Don’t let the pigeon stay up late, Tashi, Aussie bites : the bugalugs bum thief ….

I then highlighted a few recent books written to help parents cope with their child’s medical and surgical procedures and hospitalisation. These too were snapped up. They were Help! my child’s in hospital, by Becky Wauchope and Everybody stay calm, by Angela MacKenzie. I held tightly on to the one American book, it was harder to get Parenting children with health issues and special needs : love and logic essentials for raising happy, healthier kids – people are invited to borrow this book.

Jillian Rattray

AWCH Librarian

http://library.awch.org.au

May 2015

Thanks A Million

21 October, 202016 May, 2013 by AWCH

As AWCH celebrates its 40^th anniversary during 2013, it is timely to reflect on all the AWCH volunteers past and present who have contributed to the improvements made in the care of children in Australian hospitals over the last 40 years.

From the very first meeting in 1973 when a bunch of concerned men and women got together to form an association, AWCH volunteers have worked hard to make things so much better for children and their families.

In the words of Doris Hart, first Secretary and National Organiser of AWCH – the moving force behind the Association’s initiatives from 1973 to 1983 – there was a dark underside to children’s hospitalisation….

‘In the newspapers and magazines of the 1960s/70s, information about children in hospital centred around hospital success stories; visits of royalty and film stars; Easter bunnies delivering a surfeit of Easter eggs; and Father Christmas and his helpers with an abundance of toys and good cheer. The stories conveyed images of hospitals working near miracles; of everyone caring about children in hospital and of the kindness shown by hospitals for their child patients.

All of this was true but it hid a very dark underside to the hospitalisation of children – long term, often devastating, emotional trauma.

In Australia, the need for change was heralded by the concern expressed in 1970 by the Aust. & N.Z. College of Psychiatrists. Their Position Statement entitled “The admission of mothers to hospital with their young children” accused hospitals of……doing more damage in one year than all the psychiatrists together could undo in several years. . .

That hospitalisation could have such devastating effects on young children was well known to me. In the late 1960’s I worked for three years in the children’s unit of a psychiatric hospital handling the most severely emotionally disturbed children in the State. Hospitalisation at an early age appeared regularly in the case histories of these children.

One would have expected the psychiatrists’ position statement to bring forth cries for an immediate enquiry and remedial action. Instead, it was virtually ignored. The hospitals’ case was that parents upset children who were soon settled and better off without them. A fallacy already forcefully disproved by the published works, both written and audiovisual, of James and Joyce Robertson https://www.awch.org.au/2-year-old-goes-to-hospital.php

The “cage” cot with a wire frame 1976

If the mother (or the child’s caring person) was not admitted, how did hospitals cope? Nurses did their best in an often impossible situation. For the most part, children simply cried until they became withdrawn and “settled”. Distressed toddlers were particularly difficult to manage. In their anguish they often tried to climb out of the cot. Fearing that they would harm themselves they were sometimes put in restrainers. Documented cases of children choking to death in them discouraged the practice. Another method was to put a wire frame over the top of the cot thus making it into a cage.

In the 1970’s, I saw one of these in a regional hospital in NSW, another one in Victoria. In each case, the hospitals saw the cage as a perfectly valid solution that ensured the child’s safety, even though there were empty beds at the side of the cot which could have been used by a parent. Indeed, in Victoria I was told the cage was used because the child was the only one in the ward so, instead of having a nurse there just for one patient, the sister in the adult ward kept popping in. When I asked why they hadn’t admitted the child’s mother in these circumstances, I was told it wasn’t hospital policy. The nurse admitted she would willingly have let the mother stay (had it been allowed) as the toddler was a nuisance disturbing and upsetting her patients all night.

Of course, most hospitals did not use restrainers or cages, but there were still very distressing sights associated with necessary treatments. I remember seeing a very young child in a side ward with his eyes swathed in bandages and his wrists tied to the sides of the cot so that he did not pull off the bandages. He was kept heavily sedated but one couldn’t help wondering what fears or dreams he was having in that twilight state. I felt sure his mother holding his hand and comforting him would have helped.

Cracking the system

In the literature, the problems of hospitalisation of children had been identified and the solutions outlined. As hospitals failed to implement more humane policies, there were various attempts by individuals and groups to force action but none had been successful. Hospital boards were thought to be omnipotent. To challenge them from inside the hospital was to invite personal disaster career-wise; to challenge from the outside was to invite ridicule as a trouble-maker.

At the first meeting of the group which subsequently became AWCH I voiced my strongly held convictions:

that infants and young children needed their mothers in hospital and that need had to be met
that parents and professionals must work together publicly if the above aim was to be achieved

I believed that we could do better by drawing upon Australia’s egalitarian ethos and creating a platform from which all could speak on behalf of the children, free of professional, personal or vested interests.

Thus AWCH was born in the belief that parents and professionals together could crack the system’ for the good of the children.’

During this national volunteers week 2013 AWCH would like to thank all our volunteers both past and present

If you were an AWCH volunteer between 1973-2013 or know of someone who was please contact AWCH and let us know how you helped awch through your volunteering.

Wonderful AWCH Volunteers

21 October, 202016 May, 2012 by AWCH

Meet Peggy, Cathy, Maureen and Lesley – some of our wonderful AWCH volunteers.

AWCH has been blessed with the most gracious, hard working and happy bunch of office volunteers you could ever wish to meet.

Thank you Peggy, Maureen, Lesley and Cathy for your dedication and assistance to AWCH

It has been a very busy year with AWCH moving to another building on the Gladesville Hospital site. With laughter and generosity of spirit that is a delight to behold, some serious archiving took place in preparation for the move. Sifting their way through the reams and reams of duplicated paperwork, they reduced the amount of paper records that we have collected over the nearly 40 years of AWCH existence – a monumental task undertaken by these marvellous, patient and thorough women. They also embarked on the hard work involved in the move and settling in – the place now feels like home!

Our volunteers are an inspiration to all of us with their enthusiasm and can do spirit.

Here’s to you fabulous volunteers! We can’t thank you enough for your happy and unflappable approach to any and all tasks.

Celebrate with us during National Volunteer Week 2012

National Volunteer Week 2012

21 October, 202016 May, 2012 by AWCH

During this 2012 National Volunteer Week AWCH Thanks Our Fabulous Hospital Ward Grandparent Program Volunteers.

The AWCH Hospital Ward Grandparent Program began in 1987 at the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network – Westmead.

The idea is based on the belief that the trauma of hospitalisation in a child may be lessened considerably by the presence of an adult with whom the child has a loving relationship. Because the parent sometimes cannot accompany a hospitalised child for varying reasons, such as distance, family and job obligations or parental illness, AWCH introduced the visiting ward grandparent scheme.

The grandparent volunteer fills a diverse role:

Supports the child and often the family in a time of crisis
Provides a means of communication between the child and the unfamiliar world of the hospital
Entertains an often bored and frustrated child
Provides stimulation at essential stages of development in a child who might otherwise become developmentally delayed due to institutionalisation
Relieves the workload of a frequently over extended ward staff
Gives the child individual attention and love that every child needs, especially when lying alone in a hospital bed

All in all our visiting ward grandparents do these and a lot more. Their ability to give themselves and be of immeasurable value to the sick child has surpassed our wildest expectations.

During this 2012 National Volunteer Week with the theme ‘Every One Counts’ AWCH pays tribute to the hundreds of ward grandparent volunteers who over the years have supported children and their families in hospitals across Australia.

Interested in volunteering?

Check out more information on the AWCH Ward Grandparent Program

Little snails and tales, at lunch with hospital ward grandparents

Thanks A Million

Wonderful AWCH Volunteers

National Volunteer Week 2012

During this 2012 National Volunteer Week AWCH Thanks Our Fabulous Hospital Ward Grandparent Program Volunteers.

Interested in volunteering?

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