It is impossible to describe Douglas House, a ‘respice’ for adolescents and young
adults, without first describing Helen House. Helen House, the world's first children's
hospice, opened in Oxford in 1982. During the course of 21 years, it has provided
respite care and terminal care to children with progressive life-limiting illnesses
and support to their families before and after the death of their children. The model
both in architecture and ethos is home. The children and their families are considered
to be the experts in care, each one being unique. While their own home is the ideal
centre of care for a child, we have to accept that the extended family, with the support
it once offered, has almost ceased to exist in our culture, and Helen House and other
children's hospices try to offer an occasional alternative. Caring for a very sick
child is physically exhausting, but the grief inherent in the knowledge that a child
will die is perhaps the most emotionally and spiritually exhausting parental experience
known to humankind. Friendship and practical help are central to the ethos of Helen
House, as is the acceptance that we do not have the answers to the big questions.
Nor can we give back to the families the thing they want above all else—their children
alive and well.
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
August 5,
2003
Received:
July 30,
2003
Identification
Copyright
© 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
