CHASE hospice care for children

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CHASE hospice care for children exists to support families with life-limited children. Life-limited children or young people are those who are not expected to live to reach the age of 19 because of illnesses that are incurable. The care network that CHASE offers stretches throughout SW London, Surrey and Sussex. This is provided free-of-charge to the families CHASE supports.

The heart of the CHASE service is its community team, whose members visit families in the community and at home every day of the year. CHASE also has its own children's hospice, called Christopher's, which is based at Artington near Guildford. Here, families can spend some quality time together, or the life-limited child can enjoy some independent respite if the family needs to take a rest elsewhere.

Below: The 'Journey' statue at Christopher's.
Image:Journey statue.JPG

Contents

[edit] History

The CHASE story began in 1990, when an article in a national newspaper describing how a despairing family with a life-limited child had been helped by a children’s hospice service in Birmingham. This inspired a mother of young children, living in South West London, to make some kind of contribution, and from here came the impetus and the enthusiasm to create CHASE hospice care for children. (At the time there was no comparable service covering South East England.)

On 13th November 1994 CHASE was officially registered as a charity (No: 1042495). CHASE conducted research to ascertain which services were needed most, and the introduction of the Community Care team became possible in the spring of 1999. On 19th November 2001, Christopher’s children's hospice welcomed its first family.

[edit] Early Milestones

  • 1994 Children’s Hospice Association for the South East of England registered as a charity
  • 1995 Board of Trustees established and first Friends of CHASE groups formed in South West London, Surrey and West Sussex
  • 1996 Fundraising Ruby Ball held at Loseley Park, Guildford
  • 1997 Appeal office opened in Godalming
    • September: Public Appeal for £5 million launched
    • December: Planning permission granted on land at Artington Manor Farm, donated by the More-Molyneux family of Loseley Park
  • 1998 First year for CHASE team in London Marathon
    • April: Tuckwell CHASE Lottery launched
  • 1999 Corporate adoption by J P Morgan that raised £1 million over two years
    • June: First members of CHASE Community Care team started work
    • September: £½ million donation from Airways Charitable Trust
  • 2000 February: Appeal office moved to Loseley Park, Guildford
    • July: First turf cut, marking the start of building Christopher’s
    • November: Care team won Children & Families category of the Community Care Awards
  • 2001 £5 million target passed
    • November: Christopher’s welcomed its first families
  • 2002 October: Christopher’s officially opened by HRH The Countess of Wessex


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[edit] Fundraising

CHASE receives minimal, short-term government funding. As such, the majority of the £4 million needed to run the service each year must be raised through general charitable donations and fundraising.

CHASE has raised over £1 million through sponsorship of runners in the London Marathon

On the 29 July 2008 the Race for CHASE [2] kicks off - 8 men cycling from Lands End to John O'Groats trying to raise £100K for Chase Children's Hospice.

[edit] Patrons

Royal Patron - HRH The Countess of Wessex


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[edit] The CHASE Ben Hollioake Fund

The CHASE Ben Hollioake Fund was established after the death of the England and Surrey cricketer in 2002. Ben’s brother Adam and the Hollioake family wanted to create an everlasting memory in Ben’s name. Adam Hollioake was already involved with CHASE and as a result, the fund was set up and in association with CHASE aims to raise as much funding as possible for CHASE to continue providing its caring service to families.

[edit] Further Information

Community visits by the CHASE Community Care Team last on average 3 hours each, much longer than other agencies.

Bereavement services are followed through with the same staff, as it can be more beneficial to receive bereavement services from people who knew the family and the child.

The development of CHASE has been planned in a staged way in order to guarantee secure, sustained services, without ever needing to reduce the service in any way.

CHASE has never turned a child away because of the complexity of care requirements (for instance, if a child is 24 hour ventilated and needs two carers on hand at all times).

CHASE is regulated by the Health Care Commission and has had the best results in the country out of all children’s hospices – never being given any compulsory requirements as a result of HCC inspections.

CHASE has the biggest Therapy Team of all children’s hospices in the country. (This includes physiotherapy, occupational therapy, emotional therapy, music therapy, and complementary therapy.)

CHASE has now supported over 700 families since the service began.
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[edit] External links