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Angela
Mercer will oversee the day-to-day running and operation of the
new hospice, which is currently being built on the southern boundary
of Worcester.
She will manage a skilled nursing team, and is already working with
health and care professionals in the area to raise awareness of
the hospice and the comprehensive paediatric palliative care service
that Acorns offers.
Angela
will also work closely with the project manager, Mike Cartledge,
as the building work progresses, and is currently working through
each room in detail, looking at the fixtures and fittings and all
the finer details which will turn the hospice from a house into
a home.
When built, the hospice will have 10 bedrooms, family accommodation,
facilities for teenagers a multi-sensory room, activity rooms, hydrotherapy
pool and an acre of landscaped interactive gardens, which will be
used by more than 250 life-limited youngsters across the three counties.
"Being
here and watching the hospice grow is tremendously exciting.
"One of the great things is that Acorns is family led.
"Right from the beginning the new hospice has had huge input
from families and the children themselves; the service is very much
about meeting their needs." says Angela, who has been involved
in the project since its conception some five years ago.
Lots
of experience
Angela's background is in nursing and health visiting.
She joined Acorns 14 years ago, when she worked in the community
team based at the charity's first children's hospice in Selly Oak,
south Birmingham, providing emotional and practical support for
families in Herefordshire and Worcestershire.
She was then appointed head nurse at Acorns second hospice in Walsall
when it opened in 1999 and where she has worked ever since.
She feels her new appointment completes the circle.
"It's so good to know that finally, some of the families I
first worked with, will soon have access to their own local hospice
and will no longer have to make the long and often difficult journey
to Birmingham to access much-needed respite care.
"When
we first opened Acorns in Selly Oak it soon became clear that we
needed extra beds, we simply could not meet demand.
"Now families in the three counties will have something so
much nearer and easily accessible.
"Day care will become a real option and parents will be able
to enjoy things that many of us take for granted, such as a going
out for a meal, a shopping trip or simply spending time out with
the rest of the family.
"Spontaneity is very difficult when you are looking after a
child with complex needs," explains Angela.
Mother's gratitude
The
importance of the new hospice was recently brought home to Angela
when a bereaved mother who Acorns supported many years ago contacted
her.
"Although the family no longer use our services, it was rewarding
to know that, even after all this time, they still think about how
Acorns helped them through the most difficult and painful time in
their lives.
"It says a lot about what we can achieve."
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