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 George Mark Children's House is….
- A PIONEER in creating and providing a new model of family-centered pediatric care for families with seriously ill or dying children.
- FREE to all families.
- A CHAMPION for increasing access to its model of pediatric palliative care.
- A HOME-LIKE REFUGE for families whose children are the most seriously ill or dying.
- HERE, for as long as families need us.
GMCH's family-centered, life-affirming philosophy acknowledges the terrible stress a child's serious illness places on every family member, and provides services to support parents and siblings, as well as the seriously ill child. The ultimate goal of the House is to assist families in remaining intact, functional and capable of achieving the highest quality of life together in the midst of extreme circumstances.
History of George Mark Children’s House
George Mark Children's House was conceived by Dr. Kathy Nicholson Hull, as a memorial to her two brothers. One brother, Mark Nicholson, died in an automobile accident in 1962 at the age of 16. George Nicholson, died of cancer in 1969 at age 30. She experienced first-hand, as a sibling, just how devastating the loss of a child is to a family. The House is named for George and Mark, shown below with Kathy.
Her personal losses led Dr. Hull to choose a profession that would allow her to help people undergoing similar trauma. She earned a Psy.D. in clinical psychology, with an emphasis on health-related issues. Her post-doctoral work with families in crisis took her to Children's Hospital in Oakland, CA where she met Dr. Barbara Beach, a pediatric oncologist. The two women worked together and agreed that there is an enormous need for families to get complete medical, emotional, and spiritual care in a loving environment that would offer safe harbor during one of life's most difficult trials.
Although the concept of a residential pediatric hospice is new to the United States, such facilities in England, Canada, New Zealand and Australia provide successful models for this type of program. To learn as much as they could about these facilities and their ambience prior to designing GMCH, a delegation of board members visited several pioneering pediatric hospices in the United Kingdom and Canada. They helped incorporate this knowledge of best practices into the design of George Mark Children’s House. Likewise, House architects, William Rernick Associates, also consulted with English experts about the many unique requirements of such a facility. The result is a wonderful house, full of light and space, where both children and their families feel welcome and comfortable.
Our Mission
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A welcoming, home–like refuge for the most seriously and terminally ill children and their families — before, during and after their child’s illness and life, is over. |
At present, families with seriously and terminally ill children have limited options for care: hospital or home care. Whenever hospitalization is not required, the preference of most parents is to keep their child at home. Around-the-clock homecare can be isolating, as well as emotionally and physically exhausting.
With George Mark Children's House, parents finally have a desirable respite care option that enables them to take periodic breaks from the non-stop responsibility of home care so they can get much-needed rest, take a rare vacation, watch another child's soccer game, or simply attend to day-to-day errands and neglected chores. Such respite provides a sense of normalcy and order in an otherwise harried and demanding routine. During these breaks, parents can have peace of mind knowing that their child is in a loving environment full of playmates and activity. The House is staffed by a skilled care team that knows each child and family, and is familiar with their special needs and circumstances.
While respite care and other on-going support programs are a focal point, the House also offers transitional care. Transitional care is provided after a child has left the hospital but before the child is ready to go home. This stay offers a period of education and learning in order to equip the family and the primary caregivers with the skills necessary to care for their sick child at home. Transitional care can also includes admission to the House for pain and symptom management, thereby avoiding unnecessary hospitalizations.
Finally, George Mark Children’s House offers end of life care. Private family quarters allow parents and siblings to stay together with their child during the final stage of life, when care at home or the hospital is no longer practical or desirable. Quite simply, GMCH helps families make the most of what life their child has remaining. Afterwards, our Bereavement and Child Life Programs are filled with opportunities for families to restore the rituals of family life.
Caring for a child is difficult, but losing a child is more difficult still. At GMCH, we seek to create an environment where we can honor each family’s cultural and beliefs, while helping them understand the deeper mysteries we all share: how to love and to remember those we have lost.
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