Formby family's delight as charity supporting children with disabilities opens its doors for fir

Lancashire charity, Rainbow Hub has welcomed children and their families back for the first time since they had to close their buildings at Mawdesley in March due to pandemic and the vulnerability of the children with disabilities they support.

Weeks of planning and changes to procedures have been put in place with a range of measures designed to keep the children safe whilst they continue the life changing therapies that help them achieve things most of us take for granted.

The new procedures are extensive, following NHS guidance, and include all staff wearing visors in sessions with children; every staff member wearing a new set of scrubs for each session; portable hand sanitisers and indoor shoes which will remain in the Hub; changes to session times to allow for full cleaning between each session. Areas are marked off which visitors cannot enter, together with social distancing markers and signs and separate toilets for staff and visitors with hand sanitisers in all areas. Certain facilities such as the Sensory Room will only be open for individual use and a log will be kept of all staff and visitors each day with contact details.

Joanne Ashcroft, Head of Conductive Education services, Rainbow Hub, said, “Covid-19 has had a huge impact on us all, especially the children and families who normally come to Rainbow Hub. For most of them their usual care, respite and therapies stopped which wasn’t good for their physical or mental health. We did all we could to support them and their families through virtual sessions but it’s wonderful to see their gorgeous faces back at Rainbow Hub.”

Katie Maddison (14) from Formby has attended Rainbow Hub since she was 18 month old and her Mother, Lisa Maddison, said “We are very excited about returning to Rainbow Hub. Lockdown was a extremely challenging period for families with disabled children because all support avenues were no longer available. This put families like ours under tremendous strain. However, despite their own challenges, the staff at Rainbow Hub continued to provide invaluable support to families through online sessions, keeping the children active, maintaining skills and ensuring families were connected. The charity has always been a life line but never more so than throughout lock down. As a result of their continued support, we are confident that Katie will be able to continue where she left off and keep on making wonderful progress.” Lyndsay Fahey, Interim CEO at Rainbow Hub, said “we are delighted that we are able to open again and welcome the children and their families. Lockdown has been particularly hard for them as they rely, not only for the therapy to improve their child’s physical health, but also for support from a team that understands the challenges of caring for a child with significant additional needs. It is so important to them that we continue to deliver the services that make such a difference to their lives as their needs don’t go away because there’s a pandemic.”

She continued “most of our team had to be furloughed but are now returning and we will be working very hard, not only keep the children safe, but also on our fundraising. We are facing a significant challenge as we have had to cancel all of our summer events and are looking at other ways in which we can raise the vital funds we need as we have no statutory funding. We are so very grateful to everyone who has helped us so far and if anyone would like to get more information about the work we do or support us, our web site is www.rainbowhubnw.org or we can be found on Facebook, Twitter @rainbowhubnw or www.justgiving.com/rainbowhub And every penny counts.”