Newsletter November 2007

Dear friends:

Please allow us to tell you about the life of Children's Hospice in November. Our employees of social and psychological services continued their regular current work. Besides monthly visits of the Oceanarium and the Dolphinarium, going to a cinema and to football, our patients enjoyed several special events:

We were invited to the birthday of a Clowns Studio at the Variety Theatre. The children were not only spectators of the show but they were also participants of tricks, little performances and jokes. There was a real feast of laughter and joy.

Theatre-fanciers received an opportunity to visit the Theatre of Young Spectators once again. The children liked the performance «Pollyana» very much because it touched upon a very important subject for them: love and friendship despite of illness and losses.

Our program «Zoo at home» continued its successful work. Children enjoyed interacting with animals and listened to stories about them. In November we brought the Zoo to a child living in the Leningrad Region for the first time.

This month turned out to be especially joyful for football fans. The Football Club "Zenith" won the championship of Russia. The club invited our patients not only to all important and final matches of the Russian championship but also to a great celebration devoted to the victory of the team. It was wonderful that such a famous team found time for sick children!

In November we received special guests: experts in clown therapy. They visited several children and showed us how very interesting and effective this new method of psychotherapy could be.

This month we managed once to plunge our children into the atmosphere of Italy. The children visited a puppet-show in an Italian restaurant where they could regale themselves with true Italian pizzas.

We are very grateful to the managements of the Great Concert Hall "Oct’abrsky" and of the Ice Palace for providing our patients with an opportunity to visit the best concerts for free. E.g. the children could visit concerts of a Russian pop-singer Dima Bilan and of Enrique Iglesias, the concert “Disco of the 80^th” and a performance of a humorist Michail Zadornov.

In November we organized a 2-day-trip to old Russian cities Pskov, Pechora and Izborsk. Some of the children experienced such a trip for the first time. Ancient fortresses, monasteries and services in churches left nobody to be indifferent. Even the youngest children calmed down when we entered under vaults of ancient temples. Astonishing beauty, silence and the absence of vanity created the sensation that we had returned back to XIV-XV centuries, and the prince’s armed squads were just about on the point of appearing from somewhere and assuming formation along fortress walls.

The month of November turned out to be unusually rich in scientific events at Hospice. So in November Michail Sobolev, the chief of Hospice psychological service, took part in a conference about problems of psychotherapeutic education arranged by the faculty of psychology at the Supreme Economic School. His speech on the conference was devoted to the possibility and the organization of psychotherapeutic work in an institution by example of work of the psychological service of Hospice.

Employees of our psychological service continued their education. Our psychologist Julia Rusanova took an educational course in medical (clinical) psychology at the Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education.

We renewed our practice of regular training seminars and supervisions for all hospice employees.

The project «Dreams come true»

There remains just a short time till the most joyful and magic holidays of the year - Christmas and New Year. This is an amazing time when the most unrealizable dreams come true. In hope for that, in November we launched a project of fulfilling New Year’s wishes of sick children.

The project «Dreams come true» has existed in Children's Hospice since 2003. As a rule, in the days of December this project gains a special sense. 46 patients of Children’s Hospice, whose state of health causes the greatest concern of our doctors, have told us about their dreams in this year. So what have the children told us about?

All of them dream to recover. It is not in our power to help them in this matter but it is in our power to relieve them of pain, to render assistance and to bring necessary medicine in time. Each of them dreams to alleviate the anguish of mind for his relatives - and we try to support the whole family, to enable the child to express himself, to find understanding and sympathy. Each of them dreams to be closer to people, and we are glad to acquaint them with good and interesting people.

And there are other dreams, thinking of which every child smiles dreamily, however badly he may feel. There are dreams, about which he can write to Santa Claus in his New Year's letter, but he would hesitate to tell his mother about them in order not to burden her life, which is difficult enough as it is, with additional problems. He convinces himself that these dreams are not serious and tries to be conscious and adult, but these dreams make him happier and make his childhood REAL.

As a rule, these dreams are absolutely simple and do not seem unrealizable for an adult any more. It can be a bright toy or a ticket for a football match, a laptop, and a box of favorite sweets or a romantic holiday outside of home... But children - patients of Hospice – don’t always have time to become adults. The miracle should come into their life at the right time, today, and probably it would prolong it. We know what is necessary for it. It is necessary to win the child’s confidence, to accept the cherished dream from him and to do everything possible to fulfill this dream...

We have shared our small successes and achievements with you, and we have told you about the things that our employees face every day. We hope what you have read touches your heart and soul. Please share this newsletter with your friends, and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.