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Bear Cottage Children's Hospice:

Improving Access and Outcomes

Through Invisible String

Connections

Sydney, Australia

Liz Arnott, Social Worker

2 Image Source: Lee Duguid A.AIPP

Image Source: Me! Image Source: http://www.couplesholidays.com.au

Bear Cottage, Children’s Hospice.

• Dr Michael Stevens & Dr John Yu

• “Beach House”

• 8 bed facility – 10 rooms and 2 x 2 bedroom apartments

• $10AUD million raised by community

• Opened 17th March 2001

• Aims to enhance QOL for children with life-limiting-illness

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• Staff Specialist – Paediatric Palliative Care

• GP’s – On Call

• Nurse Unit Manager

• Clinical Nurse Specialist 2

• Registered Nurses & AIN’s

• Business Manager

• House Staff – House Keepers; Maintenance; Chefs

• Social Workers

• Child-Life Therapists

• Music Therapist

• Art Therapist

• Community Relations & Fund Raising

• Volunteers

• Volunteer Manager

Bear Cottage Team

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Frankie - Assistance Dog

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Diary of A Wombat

Jackie French

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Monday

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Tuesday

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Sunday

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Monday

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The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Eric Carle

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….A Beautiful Butterfly

Camps – a time for Fun!

• Initial forays into family support

saw the development of

“DMD Camps”

• This enabled , previously

isolated, boys to come together

and have fun

• They formed bonds & got to do

things they had only

ever dreamed of……

Where to begin……

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Footprints In the Sand

• Bear Cottage Bereavement Support

Service

• Morning Teas

• ‘Back to Bear Cottage’ BBQ

• Remembering Day

• Bereavement Family Camp

• BootCamp @ Bear Cottage

(BC@BC)

• Dad’s PitStop Wellness Program

• Bear Cottage Events (Superhero

Day, Christmas Party, Easter)

“Listening to other families journey helped

us to think we are not alone, to realise it is

not uncommon to feel and act in certain

ways when grieving”

2016

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• Junior Sibling Day

• Junior Sibling Camp

• Boot Camp at Bear Cottage

• Sibling Ski & Surfers Camp

• Senior Sibling Camp

• Bereaved Footprints In The Sand Family Camp (bereaved families)

• Dad's Support Camp

• Mum's Support Camps

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Family Support Camps

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“I was terrified going down the mountain

but I did it”

“That I did it – I went up the mountain.

Having a friend to do it with helped”

“I can do things that I never thought I

could do”

• ‘Gramping’ – Grandparents Camp

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Family Support 2016

“With all the knowledge learnt and the habit of walking started at Boot Camp I have been able to lose 15.8kg, fitter, healthier and happier on the outside which has flowed onto my precious boys x3. I couldn’t have done this without BC and my boys..”

“Better knowledge about nutrition and exercise, and how I’m the one causing the barriers. It’s up to me, if I give up I’m hurting myself and letting myself down…. She needs a healthy, strong mother.”

“I will be forever grateful to our precious Bear Cottage for the amazing difference boot camp has made to my & my families life, absolutely priceless. I could never have even started, let alone achieved the outcome without you. From the very bottom of my & my families heart, THANK YOU..”

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Mums & Wellness Program

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PitStop – Dads Wellness Camp

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Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There (1871),

Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson)

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The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, by C. S. Lewis

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“..hear the music, feel the

warmth”

“All these good things will

go with me and they will

make my spirit glow. And

that light will shine

forever in the next place

that I go”…

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“I’ll glide beyond the rainbows. I’ll drift above the sky. I’ll

fly into the wonder, without ever wondering why.” The Next Place.

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The Invisible String, Patrice Karst

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Invisible Strings & Continuing Bonds

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Possum Magic, Mem Fox

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Bum Magic, Claudia Rowe

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Clown Doctors

Image via pintrest

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Pixie Dust

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“Each time this is remembered, shared and passed on,

its becomes more special”. Badgers Parting Gifts.

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Lifetimes The Beautiful Way to Explain Death to Children, Bryan Mellonie and Robert Ingpen

“There is a beginning

and an ending for

everything that is alive.

In between is living.”

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“..souls sore but it also makes our souls soar..”

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• French, J. & Whatley, B. (2002). Diary of a Wombat. Australia: HarperCollinsPublishers.

• Carle, E. (1969). The Very Hungry Caterpillar. England: Puffin Books.

• Mellonie, B. & Ingpen, R. (1983). Lifetimes, A Beautiful Way To Explain Death to Children. United States of America: Bantam Books.

• Hanson, W. (1997). The Next Place. Minnesota: Waldman House Press.

• Fox, M. & Vivas, J. (1983). Possum Magic. Australia: Omnibus Books.

• Karst, P. & Stevenson, G. (2000). The Invisible String. Canada: DeVorss & Company.

• Rowe, C. (2012). Bum Magic. Australia: Atlas Jones & Co.

• Carroll, L (1871). Through the Looking-Glass and, What Alice Found There. New York: Books of Wonder.

• Varley, S. (1997). Badger's Parting Gifts. London: Magi Publications

• Lewis, C. S. (1950). The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. United Kingdom: Geoffrey Bles.

• http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Pixie_Dust

• Duggleby, W. & Wright, K. (2004). Elderly Palliative Care Cancer Patients’ descriptions of hope-fostering strategies” in International Journal of Palliative Care Nursing, Vol 10.

References