A new information centre at Temple Street Children's Hospital aims to be a one-stop shop for families with questions on children's health issues, writes Hélène Hofman.
A new drop-in centre, aimed at informing families and hospital staff about children's health issues, is to open in Temple Street Children's Hospital in Dublin. The Children's Health Information Centre (CHIC) is based on similar facilities in Britain and the US, but will be the first of its kind in the Republic.
Temple Street is recruiting a CHIC co-ordinator who will have a background in healthcare and will be responsible for providing information on general health issues such as asthma or epilepsy, as well as on nutrition, health promotion, children's development and advice on safety and accident prevention. The CHIC also has a touch-screen, patient information kiosk.
"Everyone agrees that health education is important for parents and children," says Dr Denis Gill, a paediatrician at the hospital who has been working in an advisory capacity.
"At the moment, there are information leaflets on most issues, but they are scattered around the hospital. With this, we will have somewhere parents can go and get information in the form of leaflets, DVDs or on the internet," says Gill.
"We want to bring together all the information that is around the hospital. Parents can come here, be shown a video or read up on something and we can point them in the right direction for any more information that they need."
Temple Street Children's Hospital treats some 65,000 outpatients and 50,000 accident and emergency patients a year. According to Lucy Nugent, patient services manager at the hospital, at least 10 per cent of these children and their families may be interested in using the service.
"We have an audience ready and waiting," says Nugent. "Parents always have questions, but if it's a minor problem they might not think it's worth bringing the child to a doctor and don't necessarily know who to ask.
"As far as we're concerned, it's not a stupid question if you need to know and we expect to deal with all kinds of query.
"Parents' first reaction when they want information is to go to Google and look it up. The internet might have plenty of information but it's not always reliable. Instead, they can contact us here and we will be able to tell them what services are available to them, where they can go and also point them in the direction of approved, accredited websites," says Nugent.
"Also, the aim is to inform the family and that means all the family - including the children.
"We will have plenty of child-friendly information available. We want to make sure the information people get is the right kind for them," she says.
According to Nugent, the centre has been well received by staff at the hospital. Anita Fitzgibbon, a clinical nurse manager, says that it has been long-awaited by staff.
"People are always looking for more information, whether it's on vaccination, breast feeding or simple things like bowel management.
"We need to have someone specific that families can go to and have the information on hand. Now, when people have a question we can point them in the direction of the new centre," says Fitzgibbon.
The facility cost €180,000 to set up which includes one year's funding for the CHIC co-ordinator. The entire project was funded by the hospital's fundraising committee.
"Health in childhood is very important, so a project like this was essential to the hospital," says Denise Fitzgerald, chief executive of fundraising. "As a parent, I know what it's like. I've been here when my daughter was sick and you're frantic, stressed and worried.
"To come here and feel like there are people ready to help you puts you at ease," says Fitzgerald.
"Many illnesses can be controlled and even prevented if you have the right information. We want to educate people so they know what's happening and what they can do," she says.
The CHIC is expected to open to the public by the end of March.