Support to “La Grande Casa di Peter Pan”: a Home for Families of Children with Cancer

Project location: Italy, Rome
Project start date: June 2012 - Project end date: May 2013
Project number: 2012-020
Beneficiary: Associazione Peter Pan Onlus

 

Time range for this final report: From Jan 1st 2014 till Dec 31st 2014

 

From January 2014 till December 2014, "La Grande Casa di Peter Pan" has hosted 133 families; 52 of these families have come for the first time, whereas the remaining 81 had already stayed at our Houses in the past.

The total number of hospitality days offered to the children has been 6.739, whereas it has been 15.032 for the relatives. As a matter of fact, Peter Pan provides accommodation not only to the children and their parents, but also to other relatives like brothers and sisters, grandmothers/grandfathers, etc.. Overall, 21.771 days of hospitality have been therefore offered at "La Grande Casa di Peter Pan" during these 12 months.

Children's age was quite low, with 27% of children being less than 5 years old. On the other hand, about 25% were teenagers. 53% of children were male.

With regard to geographical origin, 82% of families came from Italy, especially from Campania, Puglia, Calabria and Basilicata, and 18% came from foreign Countries, especially from Venezuela, Romania and Albania.

Great majority of hosted children, about 98%, came from Bambin Gesù Hospital, the remaining 2% from Policlinico Umberto I. Moreover, 44% of children have been treated at Oncology Dept., 56% of them at Hematology.

About 43% of children spent more than one month at Peter Pan Houses, whereas about 23% spent just few days for follow up checks. In fact, Peter Pan provides accommodation for the whole length of therapy along the years, from initial diagnosis, during treatment till follow up checks and long term controls.

On average, children were cured for 76% of their time with day-care system, so going to the hospital just for daily treatment and coming back to Peter Pan Houses afterwards, with great benefit for their wellness and psychological health. Moreover, due to an important collaboration result with Bambin Gesù Hospital, a "Home Care" service has been implemented, so that simple nursing care can be provided directly at Peter Pan House, avoiding children even to move to the Hospital and waiting there for many hours for basic treatment if not needed.

The contribution granted by NPF has supported annual management, as of January 2014, of three family rooms of "La Grande Casa di Peter Pan", which includes rent, utilities, staff, cleaning services, material purchase, ongoing furniture and equipment maintenance. Two of the rooms (named "Il Porticciolo Fatato" and "La Principessa delle Nevi", located respectively at "Casa di Peter Pan" and "Seconda Stella" buildings) are used for long stay treatments, whereas the third one (named "Il Passo dell'Allodola", located at "Stellina" building) is used for short stay, mainly for follow up checks. Overall, during the year, 44 families were hosted in these rooms, for a total of 1.442 days of hospitality offered. Majority of the families came from Italy, especially from the South, whereas 4 families came from abroad, from Romania and Albania.

On top of free accommodation, many services and activities have been offered to these families during their stay as well.

First of all, transportation service from/to Hospitals, from/to Airport and train stations at their arrival/departure, to malls for shopping needs.

Every week, many recreational activities have been organized in the afternoon with the support of the volunteers: creative workshops for children and their parents (e.g. manipulation of clay, patchwork, origami, painting, handicraft), animated readings and flash-book, cooking workshops (e.g. ice-cream preparation), various games for children.

Other services which have been offered: hair dressing for the mothers, Italian language lessons for foreign families, birthday parties for children, theme parties (e.g. Carnival, Halloween, Christmas, New Year's day), concerts, theaters, administrative and logistic support, especially for foreign families, free dental cares.

During the weekends, trips and guided tours within Rome and in the neighborhood have been organized as well for the children and their families.

As of 2013-2014, for long stay children, attending primary and middle school, a "School at Home" service has been provided directly at Peter Pan houses. This has been a very important project, as it has allowed children to continue schooling, despite their illness. The service will be further developed during 2015 and extended also to high school students.

 


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