Good Night's Sleep Appeal

We are delighted to announce, that with your incredible support, we have hit our target of £35,000 to fund all the beds needed for our Children and Young Adult’s service! What a fantastic result, thank you all so much.

We would love to extend The Good Night’s Sleep Appeal and give our supporters who haven’t yet got involved, the chance to give to another way of ensuring our young people have a quality night’s sleep.

Update on our Good Night’s Sleep Appeal

We are delighted to announce, that with your incredible support, we have hit our target of £35,000 to fund all the beds needed for our Children and Young Adult’s service! What a fantastic result, thank you all so much.

Our teams can now purchase this vital equipment which will ensure that the young people using our service for short respite breaks can have a Good Night’s Sleep, and feel safe, comfortable and supported at bed time. This can only happen thanks to your kindness and we wanted you to know it means the world to us all at St Oswald’s Hospice.

We would love to extend The Good Night’s Sleep Appeal and give our supporters who haven’t yet got involved, the chance to give to another way of ensuring our young people have a quality night’s sleep.

 

Sensory support to wind down for bedtime

We urgently need to upgrade some of the broken and ageing equipment in our sensory room within the Children and Young Adult’s Service. This specialist equipment offers a multi-sensory experience for the young people who stay with us and our teams really see the benefit it brings in helping our children to relax and wind down after a busy day.

Sensory environments can be highly absorbing, providing a moment of comfort and calm for children who struggle to self-regulate. A highly personalised programme of sensory activity in a safe and controlled environment, like our sensory room, or one of our bedrooms, prepares for bed time and ensures that the young people are calm, relaxed and ready for a good night’s sleep.

This is why, with your support, we are hoping to raise an additional £25,000 to replace some of our old sensory apparatus with new, portable and highly adaptable equipment which better fits the complex and varied needs of the young people we support.

We hope, as well as the new beds you have very generously helped to fund, that we will raise enough money to purchase a range of new kit, creating positive sensory experiences which can be integrated into each child’s bedtime routine. Your support will make a huge difference for our young service users and their families, helping them to get the quality sleep that they need and deserve, during their stays with us.

Target: £60,000

Raised: £44,562

Thank you for your support.

Here is some of the equipment that your donations could buy, for our children and young people’s new sensory room:

Visual Stimulation equipment

The cost of two Bubble tubes: £2500
 
Fibre optic comb: £260
 
Fibre optic spray lights £420
 
Aura Projector: £310
 
Framed mirrors: £930

Donate to our appeal

Auditory stimulation equipment

Sound amplifier and stereo: £1,265

Donate to our appeal

Tactile stimulation equipment

Rainbow Sequin Board: £80
 
Abstract Tactile Panel: £575

Donate to our appeal

Movement stimulation equipment

 Cloud Nine safe space: £1800

Donate to our appeal

Hear from Lauren, Activities Coordinator at St Oswald’s Hospice on how the sensory room benefits the children and young adults:

Meet Ava

Ava is a sociable teenager who loves participating in as many lively activities as possible. But when it comes to bedtime, Mum Judith has a strict routine to help her daughter relax. Judith told us:

“Ava has a bath just before having her final feed and then her last medications are administered. We’ll then settle her down to sleep, which can take two or three hours. You don’t actually have what other people would consider a proper night’s sleep because you’ve always got one ear open.”

“Her Cerebral Visual Impairment (CVI) means we’re not sure how her brains translate things, but we do know that in the sensory room, she can detect the differences between light and dark. She can track objects under UV light and this and the noises really enhance her.”

Our sensory room is very versatile. It can be used as a bright and vibrant place or adapted to become a more ambient place to encourage relaxation which helps our children and young adults get a good night’s sleep. For Ava, the sensory room is perfect for helping her unwind after a day filled with music, fun and friends, while a few miles away, her family is doing the same at home.

Ava 1

Judith added:

“St Oswald’s Hospice has been the lifeblood of our family. It’s given us time back with our older daughter and enabled us to recharge our batteries. It helps to make a better quality of life for all of us. Knowing that Ava is being looked after so well and that she has access to something as vital as the sensory room, is amazing. Every penny that’s raised as part of the Good Night’s Sleep Appeal is greatly appreciated as it helps make things easier for everyone.”

Read Ava's story Donate to our appeal

Donate to our appeal