Julia's House is a children's hospice located in

Corfe Mullen Corfe Mullen is a village in Dorset, England, on the north-western urban fringe of the South East Dorset conurbation. The village had a population of 10,133 at the 2011 Census. It is served by six churches, four pubs, five schools, a library, v ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and Devizes, Wiltshire. It is a hospice for children with life-limiting, life-threatening or terminal conditions. The majority of the children who are cared for by Julia's House are unlikely to live beyond the age of 18. The hospice costs £1.9 million to be maintained. Only 3% of this cost is provided by the government.

History

Julia's House is named after Julia Perks, a paediatric

nurse Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health c ...

who died from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

in 1997. Julia highlighted the need for facilities and services for children with life-limiting and life-threatening illnesses in the Dorset area. She particularly wanted to raise awareness of the need for more respite for the families of these children. Julia's House was founded by Michael Wise, who was the local

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

of Julia Perks. Wise helped the hospice to raise £15,000 in 2008. The charity began in 2003, when Julia's House appointed two children's community nurses, who started working in

home care Homecare (also spelled as home care) is health care or supportive care provided by a professional caregiver in the individual home where the patient or client is living, as opposed to care provided in group accommodations like clinics or nursing ho ...

for terminally ill children. Julia's House began with its main effort on providing care in the families' own homes. Before being converted into a hospice, Julia's House was once a family home. In March 2006, it became a hospice that is an area for children to play and relax during the day. It also provides an occasional overnight service for 3 children and home care for 50 children. The chief executive of the hospice is Martin Edwards.

Shirt controversy

In July 2008, Julia's House replaced Park Engineering as the logo on

Weymouth F.C. Weymouth Football Club is an English semi-professional football club based in the town of Weymouth, Dorset. They compete in the National League South, the sixth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the Terras due to their t ...

's shirts. This deal was made to raise the profile of both the charity and the

football club A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all- ...

. It was a free sponsorship deal. However, a number of people became concerned that Julia's House was paying Weymouth F.C. for the shirt deal so that the charity could have more

publicity In marketing, publicity is the public visibility or awareness for any product, service, person or organization (company, charity, etc.). It may also refer to the movement of information from its source to the general public, often (but not always) ...

. When the charity began losing fundraising money due to this controversy, it denied these beliefs, and Mike Bartlett, the development director at Julia's House, issued the following statement:

References

{{reflist

External links

Official website
Children's charities based in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 2003