Visit To Julia's House

Juilia’s house hospice:-

The aim of Julia's House is to maximise and enrich the quality of life for Dorset children and young people with life-limiting or life-threatening conditions. They provide support from diagnosis to death and beyond for the whole family. They offer multi-disciplinary end of life care in our hospice building or in the family home.

Julia's House Website http://www.juliashouse.org//

I had a very good visit to see Julia’s house hospice & their sensory room during an open day. It was a very humbling emotional visit. Such lovely caring staff & such important work. They very much want the children to feel empowered & as much as possible independent, able to experience things hands on.

The theme for the hospice art work evolved around the nearby sea. Outside the sensory room in a play area they had some very interactive squiggy mats on the floor which created different ink type images every time you walked on them. They looked simple & hopefully not too expensive but safe & fun for the children.

Liqui Floor Tiles available from cafe-interiors http://www.cafe-interiors.com/
Tel 01613715550
Approx £80 to £100 per tile in 2005

Details from http://www.sensoryplus.co.uk/

The sensory room had amazing lights to create movement & interest. A very kind person had provided funds for the room lights & various hoists. They also had simple interactive sculptures to play with. An example of which appeared to be made out of a springy vacuum/hairdryer hoses fixed to a plaque on the wall, which flopped about. They also had simple ideas in the garden like safe cutlery & cooking pots tied up which could be knocked to make sounds. There were also many types of wind chimes. They had a yellow brick road which was paved by bricks which were inscribed with loved ones names & wishes from their families. The families made a donation to sponsor each brick.

The end of life care, suite was quite beautiful. They had a memory board in the passageway for the children & their families to display comments. A special sitting room with pleasant art work. Textured star fish behind safety glass. Simple relaxing images of the sea. In the bedroom where the dear children sadly spend their final precious hours together with their family a beautiful mural had been painted on the wall. Just outside were a private garden area with seats & a water feature with a very poignant inscription “Beloved Treasured & One Day Re-united”