A powerful awareness campaign focusing on the realities of children’s hospice services has been hailed an outstanding success.
East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) teamed up with families for its ‘I wish you knew…’ initiative.
They were asked to get involved by completing the sentence ‘I wish you knew…’ and the myth-busting campaign went live last month.
A vault of powerful, thought-provoking responses was published on the charity’s website and different ones were shared via social media every day for three weeks.
They tackled subjects including bereavement, accessibility in public places and the way people speak to parents after the death of their child.
Others chose to raise public awareness by speaking about the invaluable help and support they receive from EACH.
“We couldn’t have been happier with the exceptional range, depth and power of the responses received,” said Lois Livoti, EACH’s Senior Digital Communications Coordinator.
“It wasn’t a fundraising campaign, so it’s impossible to quantify or measure success in terms of monetary value.
“However, as an awareness campaign, we’re confident it had a significant impact, gave families a space to talk and opened people’s eyes about the realities of children’s hospice services.
“In terms of feedback, comments and engagement, it was an outstanding success and lovely that parents shared their own very personal stories, often commenting on each other’s posts and sparking conversation.
“One mum described the campaign as ‘vital’, while another said it was a ‘privilege’ to be involved.”
There was plenty of local media coverage, including reports and interviews on both BBC Look East and ITV News Anglia.
“One colleague told us the campaign had given families a voice, whereas before they’d only had a whisper,” added Lois.
“Another told us she bumped into a neighbour while on a dog-walk and he mentioned the fact he’d heard about the campaign on the radio.
“He wanted to find out more so went home and looked online.
“That’s exactly the kind of response we were hoping for and it’s exciting to think of the difference it’s hopefully made, in terms of opening people’s eyes.”
Across its various social media accounts, EACH has around 40,000 followers.
In addition to running the campaign online, awareness posters and flyers were on display in its three hospices and staff were invited to share their thoughts.
EACH’s range of services is comprehensive, for both bereaved and non-bereaved families. It includes expert nursing care and short breaks, symptom management nursing, family activities and events, physical therapies, wellbeing, care at end of life, bereavement support and practical help in the family home.
