30 March 2016
Invaluable support will be offered to families of children with cancer and other serious health conditions as a new role is created to support their parents thanks to the generous support of the Oscar Maclean Foundation.
The Oscar Maclean Foundation was set up in 2014 by Alan and Nara Maclean to celebrate the life of their son, Oscar who lost his life after a spirited fight against a malignant brain tumour.
The Foundation is funding Health and Social Services for two years to recruit a Parent Partnership Worker. The new role, which is currently being recruited for, will be based at the Child Development Centre at Overdale, which is run by Health and Social Services. The successful candidate will be a single point of regular and consistent contact for families providing emotional and practical support and co-ordinating services and practitioners in a team around the child and family.
This support will mean that that parents will be able to focus on their child at the time when they need it most, instead of spending valuable time contacting various charities, States of Jersey departments or other service providers.
The parent partnership role has been developed within the Child Development Centre for early years children with neuro-developmental conditions but the extra funding from the Oscar Maclean Foundation will enable it to be extended to children of all ages with serious health conditions.
Dr Lisa Perkins, the Head of Service for the Child Development Centre, said that the feedback from families has been overwhelmingly positive. She said “I am delighted that the Oscar Maclean Foundation is providing funding to extend the provision of parent partnership support to children with serious health conditions.
"Families can be overwhelmed by the number of health professionals and other services, particularly if their child also needs to access hospital services in the UK. It can be very difficult to find the right information at the right time. I am confident that the new post will make a real difference to families.
"For today and with every single day to come, we will try to change this world into a slightly better place by supporting worthy community causes aimed to help young cancer patients in Jersey and their families, in Oscar's name" said Nara. "We would like to thank all our supporters for their enthusiastic efforts, helping us grow and deliver this vital post. A special thankyou goes to the Jersey Triathlon, the Jersey Rugby Club (where Oscar played as a junior member) and St Michael's school for their outstanding support."
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