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Naomi House is shaped like a horseshoe with all the children's bedrooms opening out onto the garden.
There are ten bedrooms, a bereavement suite and five rooms where parents, brothers and sisters can stay.
As each child arrives for their respite care, their room is decorated with their own possessions to provide a real home from home environment and a familiar and joyous place.
We have a hydrotherapy pool, a multisensory room, play and music rooms and a special area for messy play.
Every child can enjoy something at Naomi House, no matter what their illness, ability or condition.
Naomi House opened in June 1997 and is situated in the grounds of Sutton Manor nursing home in Sutton Scotney, Hampshire. It is a purpose-built children’s hospice and was designed by Michael Wildblood.
Naomi House is a bright and colourful place. The dining room, living room and kitchen are open plan and the atmosphere is a home-from-home. Although we do have a number of special facilities, the main living area is not institutional in any way.
Our playroom is situated just off the dining room and is always busy [this picture shows it is when it is at its cleanest!]. Our messy playroom is much like an artroom and is where our play team are stationed. Their role is to provide as many different types of play activities for all children regardless of their disabilities. Typically, arts and craft activities are offered, along with sensory play allowing the children full participation and expression.
We have ten children’s bedrooms, eight of which are available for respite care and two are held back for emergencies. Each bedroom is named after an animal - badger, frog, mouse, fox, rabbit, woodpecker, duck, squirrel, owl and hedgehog. The rooms all face onto our garden. Sometimes you might bump into Jake, our dog. He is trained as a CHATTA Dog which is a bit like Pets as Therapy (only more advanced)!
We have a hydrotherapy suite which is part of the main building. This is used by our children and their families almost on a daily basis. Hydrotherapy is very important as it not only provides a lot of fun but it also relieves muscular aches and pains, allows freedom of movement and is very relaxing.
Our family accommodation consists of four double bedrooms, a siblings room, a kitchen and a separate living room. The suite is the only part of the building that is upstairs and it allows our families to stay over and yet still have a break from directly looking after their affected child.
The butterfly suite and quiet garden are a vital part of Naomi House. The room is used by our families following the death of their child. It is so important because it means that the family do not have to leave our care at that moment when they need us so much. A child’s body can remain in the room for up to two weeks following death, allowing the family time to come to terms with their situation and to plan ahead.
The dovecote is at the end of Naomi House and many people think that it is a chapel. Although it is used for services and some family funerals, it is unconsecrated and we actually use it for many different things too. These include staff supervision and training and even as a room for karaoke when it all gets too loud for the living room!