Waikato Business News August/September 2018

40 WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS August/September 2018
for the kids
he early bird
, and in the
irect Group
ilton Half
ds that regisril
will receive
is year’s event.
me to start
which is held
akes place
er. The event
A true model of care
As the sun rises on another morning,
the team at True Colours Children’s
Health Trust are preparing for a busy
day.
Every day can look different,
depending on
the need of the families.
This may see the team supporting
grieving parents, visiting
families in the New Born
Intensive Care Unit (NICU),
attending a medical appointment
with a family, or doing
play therapy with a child.
It’s challenging but important
work. The team is small,
there is only five of them,
but the effect of their work is
far-reaching.
True Colours Children’s
Health Trust:
True Colours was established
in 2004, by CEO Cynthia Ward
with a vision of supporting
children with a serious health
condition and their families.
Earlier this year Cynthia
received the Queens Medal
Award for her work with sick
children.
Over the past 14 years True
Colours has supported nearly
1800 Waikato families.
There is often the misconception
that they only support
children with cancer, but this
isn’t the case.
They see children with a
wide range of serious health
conditions, such as genetic
diseases, cardiac conditions,
cystic fibrosis through to prem
babies with complications at
birth, such as severe cerebral
palsy.
Support can start from a
woman’s 20-week scan when
a health issue is identified with
baby, or until a young person
reaches the age of 18.
The team also offer support
to families that have had a
child die due to their health
condition.
“I often have parents that
have had a child pass away,
tell me they don’t know how
they are going to survive their
grief”, says Cynthia Ward,
CEO/Nurse Specialist.
offers something for everyone, from
the Half Marathon, shorter 10km
and 5km options which you can run
or walk and do as an individual or
as part of a team, along with a Kids
Commando Challenge. There are a
range of training programs available
on the Direct Group Uniforms
Hamilton Half Marathon website to
help participants prepare for the
The True Colours team at their annual fundraiser The Kerr & Ladbrook True Colours Long Lunch
“As a parent, I don’t know
how they get through it either,
it’s not the natural way of
things, and children should
outlive their parents.
However, in all the time
I have been doing this work
I know that parents do survive.
With the right support,
time, strategies and immense
courage parents find a way of
living with their grief.”
Support for the whole
family:
True Colours has a holistic
approach to their model
of care. They know that the
impact of a serious health condition
is far –reaching, it is not
just the child who is sick that is
affected but also their parents,
siblings, their extended family
and community.
Their support is designed to
wrap around the whole family
and be flexible to meet the different
needs that each family
may have.
True Colours provides support
in a number of ways,
there is counselling for parents
and children, support at
medical appointments, visits
to the home and hospital, end
of life nursing care, and visits
to schools and community
groups.
A Shadow Health Care
system:
Advances in medical knowledge
and technology have
meant that children are surviving
conditions that in the past
they may not have.
It has also meant that families
are now providing “hospital
care” in the home. This
places a huge demand and
level of responsibility on parents,
as they become full-time
carers for their child, constantly
having to monitor, medicate
and care for their child, all the
while keeping the rest of the
family functioning.
or choice of distance.
This year the event will be
supporting True Colours Children’s
Health Trust. True Colours is a
Waikato charity that supports
seriously ill children and their
families through counselling, childbased
therapies, education and
nursing.
True Colours CEO and Nurse
Specialist Cynthia Ward is excited
to be aligned to such an iconic
Hamilton event. “It is a great
family event, and we are looking
forward to being involved in the
day. The kids we support face so
many incredibly hard challenges
every day with such bravery
and determination. This event
will also challenge many and
we would love entrants to set
themselves a challenge to RUN
FOR THE KIDS and help raise
funds for True Colours.”
A Give A Little Page has been
International authors,
Shuster and colleagues report
parents are now providing a
shadow health care system.
Cynthia says, “This places
enormous pressure on them.
Parents often have to ‘fight’ to
get respite and the extra help
and resources that they desperately
need. It shouldn’t have
to be this hard for them. Part
of our service is that we visit
families in their own homes if
needed, as we understand the
difficulties they face at times
just leaving the house.
We know that families
appreciate being able to talk to
someone about their situation,
and the daily challenges they
face.
Most people wouldn’t have
any idea how hard families
work to give their child the
best possible care in what can
often be a shortened life”.
Growth in demand:
The demand for True Colours
services continues to grow.
It is now common for the team
to be supporting around 200
families at any one time,
whereas just a few years ago
that number would have been
around 160.
This increase in demand
has seen the team take on
counselling contractors to help
manage the workload, and
they are currently recruiting
for a sixth member to join their
team permanently.
“We have always been a
service that can respond quickly
to referrals without a waiting
list.
When families reach out to
us they are often in crisis, dealing
with some really complex
issues, so it’s important that
we can connect with them in a
timely way,” says Cynthia.
Growth of the service
brings its own challenges for
True Colours.
As a free service that is
100% community funded,
growing the service means the
funds required to operate the
service will also increase.
“We are incredibly lucky to
have a wide group of supporters
from community funders,
businesses, and individuals
that see the value in our work
and have chosen to support
set up so entrants can fundraise for
True Colours as part of the event.
amazing holiday for 2 to Australia’s
Sunshine Coast valued at $4000.
True Colours is 100% community
funded and needs to raise around
$450,000 a year to run its service.
To register for the event visit
www.hamiltonhalfmarathon.org.nz.
Colours at www.truecolours.org.nz
Proudly supported by
Waikato Business News
and INSPO-Fitness Journal
us” says Cynthia, “and without
them we wouldn’t be in a
position to expand to meet the
extra demand”.
Prudent financial management
is high on the agenda for
Cynthia and the True Colours
Board, who can still remember
the days when the organisation
first started around a table with
an uncertainty of how costs
would be covered.
“While there were some
financially scary moments
at the beginning, we have an
amazingly generous community
here in the Waikato who
have been the ‘wind beneath
our wings’ and we simply
couldn’t do this important
work without them”.
For more information on
the work that True Colours
does or to donate to their service
visit
www.truecolours.org.nz