Molly Olly’s Wishes were proud to donate £40,000 for the interior design towards Magnolia House at Birmingham Children’s hospital, which is a facility for palliative care, bereavement care and support. Magnolia House is the first of its kind in the UK and is completely funded by charitable donations.
Magnolia House is a calm and peaceful place where the hospital’s specially trained staff meet with children, young people and families to have conversations around life-changing choices and decision making around palliative and end of life care. It is a place which feels safe and kind, where children, young people, parents and carers can spend time out to help them in their journey. There are also opportunities at Magnolia House for children and families to access therapies through play, massage, counselling and other activities.
Before Magnolia House opened, life-changing conversations took place in offices, empty cubicles or even playrooms with parents often moved back out onto the ward before they have time to properly digest the conversation. In Rachel’s words from her family’s experience with Molly “We had tough conversations in public areas and in small consulting rooms that opened on to waiting areas full of other children and their families. We felt trapped by the environment, like we couldn’t breathe, needing to be outside, away from everyone else”.
Nicki Fitzmaurice, Palliative Care Lead at Birmingham Children’s Hospital, said: “The hospital, and the families who come to us, have wanted a space like Magnolia House for such a long time and we are proud, today, to be able to start building this exciting new facility as it will improve the lives of hundreds of families that are delivered devastating news at our hospital every year.”
Molly Olly’s Wishes was able to fund the interior design for the Hospital with the aim of creating a beautiful, safe and comfortable environment for these families dealing with unimaginably difficult situations.
