Home for families of children with cancer at QEHB officially opens
Saturday 17 February saw the official opening of SACA’s Home from Home. SACA, the Sikh Arts and Cultural Association is a community organisation which promotes social cohesion through sport, whilst raising funds for children’s charities. Each year they take on the gruelling challenge of cycling 130 miles from Birmingham to London, raising thousands of pounds in the process.
The Home from Home is for the parents and families of young people receiving treatment for cancer on the Teenage Cancer Trust’s Young Person’s Unit (YPU) at QEHB, and is just minutes away from the hospital. As QEHB’s YPU is one of very few units in the UK, people can travel from afar to be with their loved ones meaning they may need to book hotels last minute, and for long periods of time. This can cause great expense and stress to families, in a time which is already difficult.
The opening was a huge success, attended by many members of SACA, as well as the project’s architects, Leicester-based Hickman and Smith, and invited guests from the hospital. The Home consists of a double bedroom with an en-suite, a twin room, a family bathroom and an open plan kitchen-diner and lounge.
Mike Hammond, Chief Executive of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham Charity said: “The Charity is extremely proud to open SACA’s Home from Home, thank you to SACA for raising the incredible funds to make this project possible. The Home is just another example of how the Charity works to provide ‘added extras’ over and above those which the NHS is able to provide.”
