The Princess of Wales has praised the’ extraordinary’ care given to children and their families as she spent time at a hospice dedicated to looking after young people in the last stages of their life.
Visiting The Treehouse in Ipswich, part of the East Anglia Children’s Hospices of which she is patron, Catherine saw the special activities and events put on to help the families of youngsters with life limiting conditions spend special time together and make memories, even in the final days.
As she was welcomed to The Treehouse, the Princess met some of the young people who are being cared for there and spoke to them and their families about the special support they are being given.
The Treehouse is being expanded at the moment to provide care for more families in Suffolk and Essex. Among the projects going on are an expansion of the hydrotherapy suite to provide a bigger pool so that families have more chance to join young people in the water, making a part of care that helps relieve pain into a fun filled time that makes memories, too.
Plans also include an expanded wellness suite, where therapies based on art and music as well as counselling services can be provided. At the very heart of the expansion is a bigger care activity area which will allow The Treehouse to host bigger family events for more people, allowing youngsters to spend time with a wider range of relations and friends as they receive hospice care.
Children’s hospice support has been at the heart of Kate’s work since she first married Prince William in 2011. The East Anglia Children’s Hospices were one of the first organisations that she chose to support and she has been a very public face there for over 15 years now.
On this visit, she clearly relished being with the children and hearing them share stories of the activities they have been enjoying.
There was also a visit to Cafe 98, set up by EACH. During her time there, the Princess heard about the development of the cafe into a community space. She spoke to Morgan Rose-Neary, who manages the cafe, about its role in bringing people together.
There was also a chance to see how the retail division supports the work of EACH and the Princess of Wales was given a tour by EACH’s Director of Retail, Ian Nicolson.
The visit to EACH came just ahead of school half term with the Princess telling staff that she and her children were looking forward to the time they would get to spend together.
