Acknowledgements

We wish to gratefully acknowledge the contributions made by a team of passionate and compassionate authors in the development of Palliative Care for Children: A guide for improving the quality of life of patients and their families. In particular, we would like to recognise Mrs Tracy Rawlins, the Palliative Treatment for SA (PatchSA) national training coordinator. Tracy played a major role in collecting, collating and arranging the required training material for the book.

Palliative Care for Children: A guide for improving the quality of life of patients and their families was developed by the PatchSA Training Team consisting of Dr Michelle Meiring, Mrs Tracy Rawlins, Dr Julia Ambler, Dr Jan du Plessis, Mrs Joan Marston, Ms Tracey Brand, Mrs Melissa Williams-Platt and Ms Sue Boucher. The members of this team possess a wealth of knowledge and experience in the field of palliative care for children within South Africa and their writing encompasses the perspectives of a bereaved parent, nurses, doctors, a social worker and a teacher.

A generous grant from the Discovery Fund enabled the development and publishing of this book.

Dr Michelle Meiring, Author

Prof David Woods, Editor

In memory of Samuel John Frederick Platt
– 9 April 2015 to 22 July 2016 –
A little boy who spent his entire life in ICU and never went home