Lagan's Foundation is the UK's only charity offering Free Home or Hospital Support for families with a child under 5 with a Heart Defect and/ or feeding difficulties.
What is home or hospital support?Lagan's Foundation supply trained and criminal record checked volunteers to your home or to you on the hospital ward to help you in any way they can. You may just want someone to talk to or you may want a sleep. The service is completely flexible and controlled by you.
Who can apply for Home Support?
- Anyone with a baby or a child aged 5 or under with a heart defect or feeding difficulty
- Antenataly diagnosed & Post natal
- In Hospital or at home
Who completes the application?
- You can self refer
- Health Visitor
- Specialist Nurse
- Consultant
- Doctor
How much help will I get?
You will receive a minimum of 2 hours help a week or if you would like ad-hoc help this is also available.
Is the service regulated?Yes, our Support service is regulated by the Care Quality Commission
Are there any restrictions?Parents or Carers with parental responsibility of the child are not allowed to leave the home premises.We do not offer end of life respite.
How are the volunteers trained?All of our volunteers are
- Criminal Record Checked
- NSPCC Child Protection Certified
- Team of specialists train the volunteers to understand basics in Life Support, Cardiac care, Stoma care, SaLT, Dietetics, Moving and Handing and Infection Control
- External Medication Training is offered where appropriate
- Competency based pump feed training offered where appropriate
We are the only charity that offer this support and would love to help you in any way we can. We do not offer end of life care but simply offer you, the parents a little bit of breathing space when things seem to be getting too much.
Jungle Club
Jungle Club is an opportunity to meet fellow Heart Families , with sessions running in Liverpool on the 2nd Sunday of each month and Manchester on the 3rd Sunday of each month. More information can be found on the Lagan's Foundation website. Unfortunately my working day is a Sunday and so we're not able to attend these - though I wish we could.
Closed Facebook Groups
My lifeline through Martha's journey has been the closed Facebook group Lagan's Foundation Cardiac Families Weather it be a parent who's worried about an upcoming outpatient appointment, or a Mummy/ Daddy looking for advice from anyone in a similar position, or someone needs to rant after a bad day - the love and support between the members is wonderful. No one understands the pain and worry of a Heart Parent like a fellow Heart Parents and I am so so glad that I found this group. There is also a group for children with feeding difficulties (Heart related or not) which can be found here Lagan's Foundation Feeding Issues Group.
My lifeline through Martha's journey has been the closed Facebook group Lagan's Foundation Cardiac Families Weather it be a parent who's worried about an upcoming outpatient appointment, or a Mummy/ Daddy looking for advice from anyone in a similar position, or someone needs to rant after a bad day - the love and support between the members is wonderful. No one understands the pain and worry of a Heart Parent like a fellow Heart Parents and I am so so glad that I found this group. There is also a group for children with feeding difficulties (Heart related or not) which can be found here Lagan's Foundation Feeding Issues Group.
If this post helps one family get much needed support they need, then I'll be very happy.
GM
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The purpose of our blog is to raise awareness for Congenital Heart Defects and offer hope to families who are about to begin their journey. If it can happen to us then it can happen to anyone. Please consider sharing this post using one (or more) of the social media icons at the bottom of this post - it might reach someone very much in need. Thank you xx
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