Lucy Andrews  WellChild Children’s Nurse, Cambridge

“My job is so satisfying and fulfilling, I love working with the kids because they can be such fun. I have just been with a little boy who is so brave and who I so admire – these children are just remarkable.

I see children who have a long term condition or who are suddenly very unwell, for example through an injury. There are all sorts of different emotions involved and different experiences for the families but the children are absolutely remarkable – they are all courageous and non-complaining. They have to put up with all manner of treatments and sometimes repeated painful procedures and my job is to make that as bearable as possible for them.

It helps if I have known them for a little while and built a trusting relationship with them. One little boy has to have lots and lots of needles and he absolutely hates it, as you would, but I know what techniques help him with it. We play with his dinosaurs and read stories and I tell him jokes – which he loves.

The families cope in so many different ways and we have to adapt the way we work to support them.

My job in a nut shell is about getting children home from hospital and all my work is in making that happen. I am a bit of a jack of all trades and provide a link for the families between hospital and home and make sure everything is organised as smoothly as possible.

The children and families supported by a WellChild nurse get home quicker with the support they need and since everybody wants to get home and nobody wants to be in hospital that is a real benefit. I love this job – it’s fantastic!

We URGENTLY need more Nurses like Lucy to help get more sick children
back home with their families. Please help.