Children’s Hospital Foundations Australia is fundraising partnership of five big hospital foundations for children in Australia. The five major partner hospitals include Children’s Hospital Foundation Queensland, Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation Victoria, Women and Children’s Hospital Foundation South Australia, Sydney Children’s Hospital Foundation New South Wales and Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation Western Australia. The funds generated by the hospital foundation are distributed among these five organizations and utilized by each hospital in their area of highest need and priority. Its purpose is to find ways to cure diseases in children faster employing the latest equipment and technology and invest in new ways to save lives.
Mission, Vision and Values:
Mission:
The Mission of the Children’s Hospital Foundations Australia is to provide its partner hospitals a national opportunity to work in unison for the betterment of health facilities across the country.
Vision:
The vision is that all Australian children have access to the best healthcare opportunities available.
Values:
It is an organization that promotes values of devotion, determination, effectiveness, good guardianship and honesty in its services.
Services Offered:
The Hospitals that are part of the foundation offers a wide range of specialized services for the patients and their families. It makes sure that they get the best possible treatments for their diseases and are treated with utmost care and devotion. It is focused at getting the hospitals equipped with the latest technology trends in the medical field.
At this foundation we believe that the child’s medical health is equally important as his physical health. It is no more a matter of just an injury or a wound cure but rather the illness of a child has to be examined holistically. Depending on the many severe kinds of illnesses and viruses that have grown in our atmosphere it is vital that the children are provided with advanced care and facilities to combat with them and maintain a sound health.
One sick person in the house affects all the members of the family. In Australia particularly, families have to move thousands of kilometers to get themselves treated at a specialized hospital owing to the large distances here. It often causes inconvenience and affordability issues to the family members who have to trade off a lot for getting their sick treated. To address this need of the community, the hospitals affiliated with the foundation make sure to provide the people with the best possible medical care facilities with due care to the patient and their families.
The foundation generates funds which it distributes equally among its partner hospitals who then utilize it for their respective areas of concern based on their priority. The services for which the funds may be used involve the following fields,
Employment of Staff:
Hospitals hire the required staff for carrying out specialized operations relating to areas of research, administration and fellowships.
Recruitment of Volunteers:
The hospitals take services from the volunteers who play an important part in the hospital’s patient and parent support programs, entertainment programs and other child related activities. It gains more than $5 million worth of services from over 2000 volunteers who contribute their time and energy to fulfill the foundation’s goal of caring for the children.
Educational Health Programs:
The funding by the foundation is used by the hospitals in designing promotional programs relating to health awareness for children. This is the dire need of our time keeping in view the number of health related problems that occur each year around us and affects our society.
Entertainment Programs:
For children admitted at the hospital, the funds are used to create entertainment programs and activities that help to keep their minds off the awaiting tests and procedures. It makes their time spent in hospital less tiresome. It is specially designed for children whose time spent in hospital wards are significantly longer than other children due to their specific illnesses.
Parent/Patient Support Services:
The funds raised by the foundation are aimed to assist the disadvantaged families at their time of stress and financial suffering. It provides the parents in need with financial assistance. Apart from this it also supports the families of disabled children. It also offers child-advocacy services when required. For the provision of these services the hospitals obtain a grants-in-aid on yearly basis.
Capital and Minor Works:
The hospitals make the best use of funds in the construction of big and small buildings for the provision of care and advances facilities to children under treatment. The hospitals equip themselves with the latest state of the art technology and cure methods to provide the children with fast and pain free recovery.
Research:
The Children’s Hospital Foundation Australia is a pioneer in paediatric care. It has established its research facility to undertake laboratory investigations on wide areas of concern relating to child health. It has carried out extensive research in the following areas,
Burns:
It has studied the ways to ensure speedy recovery of the burns without leaving behind unwanted scars to protect the children from getting uncomfortable and troubled in their lives afterwards.
Cancer:
A cancer research laboratory is set up to look for new and advanced ways for the treatment of tumors, luekaemia and other acute medical conditions in children.
Respiratory Issues:
To increase the life expectancy of infants and to improve the quality of life of children, considerable research is being carried out into asthma, bronchitis and cystic fibrosis.
Viruses:
Viruses are very much spread out in our atmosphere that affects the children with weak immune systems. Studies are undertaken to search for new ways to identify serious infections and illnesses caused by them. Much research is done on meningococcal, RSV and whooping cough.
Child Advocacy and Protection:
It is aimed to help children who face maltreatment or neglect by detecting and preventing this mistreatment through investment in child protection.
Growth and Nutrition:
Children with obesity, liver disease, anorexia nervosa and cystic fibrosis are under observation for their nutritional intakes to promote a balanced and healthy lifestyle.
Pain Free Treatment:
Children are mostly fearful of pain, therefore studies are carried out to find new methods to cure illnesses that prevent children from experiencing the shock of pain. It is mostly designed for children with illnesses that require them to spend much time in hospitals for tests and treatment.
Children’s Hospital Foundation Australia is thus an organization committed to national benefit. With its values of devotion, determination, effectiveness, good guardianship and honesty, it aims to provide professional healthcare services to children across the country.
