Surprise behind a simple grey door
BEHIND a simple grey door at Gold Coast University Hospital, a surprise awaits. Among the thousands of rooms at the giant Southport campus, this one is the most unexpected, most unique.
There are no beds. No expensive medical equipment. No machines that incessantly flash and beep.
But it’s still one of the most important places at the hospital.
For behind this door is a brightly coloured classroom, where despite their ailments, children go to school.
Teachers Alison Schubert, Michael Fogarty and teacher aide Meaghan Millership are full-time employees of Education Queensland. They work with children’s regular schools to ensure they don’t fall behind in their studies while they’re in hospital. The students don’t get marked absent.
With a deeply welcoming, caring approach, they also provide something else just as valuable – a distraction from the worry of being in hospital which can prey on fearful young minds.
“We would have been lost without this place,” said Rebecca Monger, a mother of two children who have spent time at the hospital.
“They’re so in tune to schools and what they can do to help the kids not lose track.
“It brings them (the children) hope and resilience to get back into school.”
Ms Monger said the benefits extended far beyond her children’s hospital stays. Her daughter Lucinda, when in Year 11, had been reluctant to return to regular lessons.
“I don’t think she’d have gone back to school if it wasn’t for these two,” Ms Monger said, pointing to Ms Schubert and Ms Millership. “They got her in the right mindset to want to get back into school. They kept her going.
“These two women are phenomenal.”
Zara Toms, 11, has cystic fibrosis. She has been a regular visitor to the hospital since she was two years old.
“She loves it,” mum
Sue said. “It keeps her mind occupied. Every time she comes she makes new friends.”
The classroom at Gold Coast University Hospital, which caters for approximately 380 students per year, is just one of 22 in Queensland’s hospital education program. There is another, with five staff, at Robina Hospital’s mental health service.
The biggest is the school at the Queensland Children’s Hospital in Brisbane.
Given they must cater for students from every grade, many of whom have serious health issues, the staff involved need an incredible range of skills.
But – testament to a burning desire of teachers to help children who need it most – the service attracts some of the best educators Australia has to offer.
“We get lots of applicants,” executive principal Michelle Bond said. “Lots of people want to work in our program.
“So we really get to pick the best.
“The staff are phenomenal ... they’re very skilled. They personalise to what the child needs. So if you tell me you’re in Year 6, the teacher very quickly works out that they’re Year 4 level in maths, that’s what they get. We’re very proud of what our teachers do.”
There is an elephant in the room. Something the teachers are not keen to talk about. The inevitable emotional toll. The need for incredible wells of strength.
“Sometimes it’s quite touching and emotional, some of the things they go through,” Ms Bond said.
“So we’ve got people around and on the ground to be able to support staff in those difficult times.”
As the parents of children attending classes at Gold Coast University Hospital readily testify, there are also the good news stories.
Thousands of them. The regulars who love coming back to the class. The children who get better and leave with cherished memories.
“Sometimes they’ll come back and bound through the corridors and come and see us, which is really, really beautiful,” Ms Bond said.
“It’s a funny thing but we often say we believe in fairytales because we say, lots of kids come through our doors, and we just believe in the happily ever after.”
Like the kids who come through that simple grey door at Gold Coast University Hospital, where a wonderful surprise awaits.