“When children have to live with pain and illness and every additional day is uncertain, they need companions with the strength of a horse. Being carried in the here and now can make the present bearable, even when the diagnosis is terminal. Helplessness and desperation are a daily presence for our families. We provide care and relief for the families: The horses ‘carry’ them part of the way,” explained Roswitha Zink, founder and managing director of e.motion Lichtblickhofes.

Only children’s hospice care facility with therapy animals in Vienna

The children’s hospice care facility with therapy animals is the only one of its kind in Vienna. A multidisciplinary team of professionals and volunteers assist the families during their stay. In cooperation with doctors, therapists, nurses, and nurse practitioners, they help to ease the burden of care, for example, by changing medical tubes, dressing wounds, and assisting with personal hygiene. The therapy horses literally carry the children through their difficult time on their strong backs and take them to places that are not accessible by wheelchair. For the patients’ parents and siblings, the times with the animals are necessary breaks that allow them to unwind and recharge their batteries. They bring desperately needed moments of joy into the families’ lives.

Equine visitors allowed: the three apartments for children’s hospice care

The apartments allow the children to be visited by the therapy animals directly or to watch the horses graze from a ground-level terrace. The distance to the neighbouring therapy farm can be travelled in the patients’ hospital beds. The apartments are entirely barrier-free.

Moments of joy in a time of need

It is estimated that approximately 5,000 children and youths with life-shortening illnesses live in Austria. There still are not enough care possibilities available for these families. As Roswitha Zink put it, “These families give their absolute all, and we fight to make sure that they can still experience special moments and joy together despite the difficult challenges that no one chooses to have to go through – moments without pain or uncertainty.”

Duration and costs of a stay

Each of the three children’s hospice care apartments can accommodate one family for whatever duration is necessary, ranging from a few days to several weeks. The therapy and assistance costs have to be financed with donations for the most part: The social insurance funds do not cover any such costs for the families and the family budgets are generally very limited due to medical treatments, medications, and the like. For the team at Lichtblickhof, it is particularly important for this possibility to be available to all families – regardless of their financial status. Gesiba provided a great deal of support for the planning of the apartments. Many other organisations and individuals made the realisation of this project possible, including AOP Health, Allianz, Einhell, Fressnapf hilft, Raiffeisen Capital Management, Licht ins Dunkel, Österreichische Lotterien, Zgonc, and Elektro Schwarzmann GesmbH as well as ORF presenter Maggie Entenfellner and comedian Gery Seidl, who also volunteered their time.

In order to make it possible for Lichtblickhaus to accommodate families on a permanent basis, however, it will require long-term support in terms of both financial security and volunteer work. The rent and operating costs alone cost the association EUR 85,000 per year – and that’s without staff salaries.

Lichtblickhof

The non-profit organisation Lichtblickhof has been providing outpatient care to around 350 children per year for over ten years. A multidisciplinary team of 12 caring therapists provide individual, needs-oriented assistance – with the support of 20 therapy horses. Other therapy animals – including a sheep herd, rabbits, and guinea pigs – also assist the children and youths.

The horse therapy is the only programme of its kind in the world, and Lichtblickhof has been cited as a best practice example at many international conventions. Lichtblickhof is entirely reliant on private and corporate donations and volunteer workers.

Source: Lichtblickhof, Photos: Julia Salzer