Written by And so it begins! A hilarious Halloween fancy dress competition marks the first of the activities in the IQPC UK annual charity drive, supporting the incredible charity Ellenor – https://ellenor.org/
Thank-you to everyone who took part…
and congratulations to our well deserved winners from IQPC Digital
Every Year IQPC UK runs a variety of events over a two week period to support Ellenor. This is a charity we have a strong affiliation with after they provided superb treatment/support to our dear colleague Elena (and her family), who unfortunately lost her brave fight to cancer in June 2017. She remains firmly in our thoughts and we continue to support an organisation that truly opened our hearts to the great work they do.
Ellenor is the only charitable service in the Kent county to provide end-of-life, cancer and respite care to people of all ages in the hospice or in the comfort of their own home.
Over the last 3 years we are proud to have raised £35,000 and this year we hope to raise a significant amount once again. We are off to a great start and will keep you updated with our progress as the week progresses!
We asked our friends at Ellenor to tell us what these donations pay for, here is what they shared with us…
“The first thing to note is that 93p in every pound donated goes towards care for patients and their families. This is considerably more (around 50% more) than many of the national charities who operate with big overheads and marketing budgets etc, and is something we are really proud of.
It costs on average, approximately £7,000 to provide the full spectrum of care for one terminally ill child for one year. At any one time we are caring for an average of 150 children. Bear in mind that some of the children under our care may live for some time with a terminal or life limiting condition such as brain damage, degenerative diseases and complex genetic conditions. Others of course, may sadly die much sooner than anticipated.
As an example, the sum of approx. £7,000 pays for:
- A children’s specialist palliative care nurse who is assigned to the child and provides medical care and advice for the child and parents. This nurse will make frequent, sometimes daily visits to the child to manage and administer medication such as pain relief, change feeding tubes, apply dressing, take blood etc
- Play or music therapy to the child and/or siblings. Typically provided for under 5s, play and music therapy enables children who are too young to communicate their feelings verbally, to express their fears and worries through music or play. Music therapy is particularly helpful for sensory impaired children and helps to improve their wellbeing.
- Counselling is provided for up to 2 years whilst their loved one is still alive and during bereavement, and is crucial in enabling parents to prepare for and come to terms with their loss.
- Respite – we have a team of respite nurses who will go into the family home and look after the child during the day and/or night, enabling parents to attend appointments, run errands or simply rest and catch up on sleep. The respite nurse can also look after siblings and even help with things like the school run.
- Social – we run regular drop-in sessions and a weekly Friday Fun Clun for those children who are well enough to attend, or for their siblings. Again this gives parents some respite and enables children to have interaction with other children, under the supervision of our nurses who are available in the event of a medical problem.
- On call service – families have access to support and advice by telephone 24 hours a day 365 days a year, and when the child is reaching the end of life, our nurses will visit at any time, day or night.
- Financial advice – our families have unlimited access to our financial advisor who will tell them what benefits might be available to them, and how to claim for support if they are unable to work due to caring for their child.
I hope that gives you some idea of the impact IQPC has had. The sums you raised in 2016, 2017 & 2018 were truly remarkable and amounts of this size really make a huge difference. Thanks to all of our friends at IQPC and good luck with the charity auction, raffle, cake bake and other initiatives you have going on over the next few weeks.
Ellenor really is an incredible charity and one we are incredibly proud to support. Fingers crossed we make 2019’s fundraising the best year yet.
