Chuf (Children's Heart Unit Fund)

Chuf supports over 4000 Heart Heroes passing through the Freeman hospital and clinics each year. Whether the condition is congenital or acquired during childhood, Chuf is there; providing support with medical and holistic care that is simply beyond NHS capacity. Funding state-of-the-art equipment, specialist staffing and pioneering research to give Heart Heroes the best opportunities. Helping to alleviate unexpected practical and financial burdens so that families have slightly less to worry about at an already stressful time. Facilitating care closer to home, meaning less disruption to daily life. Creating more reasons to smile, because the little things matter. Chuf knows that magical memories can be made in what seems like the darkest of days. And we don’t stop. Chuf is for hearts, for families, for life. Since it's inception, the charity has raised over £11million for the Children's Heart Unit and has funded amongst many other things, the following impactful resources: • The Clown Doctor programme- for more than 15 years this talented team of play therapists have been helping Heart Heroes to overcome their personal challenges through the power of play, music and humour. Clown Doctors are heralded in the British Medical Journal for their role in speedier recoveries of hospitalised children. • Complex Cardio Care Discharge Nurse - Chuf primepumped this position which supports the transition of complex patients back into their homes. • Scott House- Chuf's custom built parent accomodation in the grounds of Freeman Hospital enables families to stay together during the most serious of times. We work closely with charity chums Sick Children's Trust, who deal with the day to day running of the property to support Heart families. •The UK’s first and only Fontan Specialist Nurse- Chuf are proud to have prime pumped this role for four years before the NHS were able to take it on as an essential part of the service for single ventricle patients up and down the country. In addition to providing a single point of contact, streamlining patient appointments, training up staff on specialist equipment use and introducing new care pathways for this growing community of Heart Heroes, the Fontan Specialist Nurse is responsible for the creation of a national single ventricle patient database, which ensures that patients are not lost to follow-up. The impact of this role is incredibly far-reaching, with research projects that will benefit Heart Heroes for years to come, and enabling fontan patients to independantly mange their condition for better quality and greater longevity of life! • Psychology support services in Cumbria • Emergency family accommodation/transport. In many cases Chuf assists out-of-area families who're unable to stay in Scott house with alternative accomodation when it matters most. • Large and portable medical equipment - in fact Chuf has provided a whopping 13 of the total 16 echo machines across the region. This access to the very best equipment means early detection and diagnoses, which saves lives. Equipment in clinics across the 6 hospitals we work with means Heart Heroes can be treated closer to home!