Hummingbird House – the right fit for the future of children’s hospices

Hummingbird House is being constructed as Qld’s only children’s hospice - a joint initiative of Qld Kids and Wesley Mission Brisbane. With an estimated 3700 children at any one time in Qld affected by a life-limiting condition, Hummingbird House will provide a home away from home when hospital or home no longer meets their needs. As a purpose built medical facility, Hummingbird House will provide 8 guest in care bedrooms, 5 family accommodation suites and 1 end-of-life suite. When Hummingbird House cofounders, Paul and Gabrielle Quilliam, presented the project to the APCC in Canberra in 2013, they had successfully secured $11M in funding commitments from State and Commonwealth governments. At that time, the project required a further $3M in private contributions to commence construction, MoU finalisation with a nationally reputable care service provider and site confirmation. Two years on, Hummingbird House is now only months away from completion and opening its doors to Qld families to deliver respite, pain and symptom management, hospice and psychosocial support services. The Hummingbird House Project Report will detail the political and philanthropic funding model; the collaborative model of partnership with Wesley Mission Brisbane; and the breadth of stakeholder engagement with families, clinicians, other Australian and international children hospices. Finally, it will outline the architectural process and present a brief photographic construction update.