Giving life – Flamingo children’s hospice
A break from dying for 10,000 children and young people in Switzerland
- Opening of the Flamingo children’s hospice on January 6:
the first in the canton of Zurich - Refuge for 10,000 children and their families
- Appeal for donations: the house can only survive with donations
Keno, Mary-Jane and Jamy are three of 10,000 children in Switzerland with an incurable disease that is shortening their lives. January 6, 2026 will be a very special day for them as the Flamingo Children’s Hospice opens in Fällanden, Zurich. A place of hope for children and their families who have been severely affected by birth. Here, life will be celebrated – despite the difficult circumstances surrounding dying.
“You need a place like the Flamingo Children’s Hospice to get through this”
Maike Nugor, mother
“The Flamingo Children’s Hospice is a place of refuge for us, for an acute critical emergency when Keno is so ill again that we can no longer live at home,” says Maike Nugor. Just like in the acute phase in 2019, when her son needed round-the-clock medical help. However, the then 8-year-old was not allowed to stay in hospital as he was considered to be out of therapy. Adult hospices do not admit children. “We were completely desperate and would have wished for nothing more than a place like the Flamingo children’s hospice.”
“It is back-breaking work, the , an incredible marathon”
Jenny Kammermann, mother
When a child suffers a life-shortening illness, it turns the life of the whole family upside down. Appointments, care, uncertainties and constant alertness have dominated the everyday life of Keno’s family for 12 years now. Every day is an obstacle course. It takes four hours a day just to feed him through a feeding tube. Twenty medications in four portions, ten times between 7 am and 10 pm. In addition, there are 60 medical, nursing and therapeutic measures. Every minute is timed, every day anew.
“Caring for a seriously ill child at home is hard,” says Juerg Herren, President of the Swiss Children’s Hospice Foundation. “Every family affected does an immeasurable amount. I have witnessed how families have been broken by this. Stays in a children’s hospice help to prevent this.”
Mary-Jane’s father has also left the family, even before her first birthday. Her single mother Ariana Powers is supported on a day-to-day basis by a network of care professionals and physiotherapists, and her family is also there. But there were months when she was on her own, even at night.
“You can’t just let go,” says Ariana Powers. But you can’t just carry on either, otherwise you break down. “What will we do if I get sick?”
Giving the days more life
The Flamingo Children’s Hospice is the first place in the canton of Zurich where families with a terminally ill child receive more than just medical and nursing support: they find stability, a sense of security, guidance and time to take a deep breath. “The children’s hospice is all about improving the quality of life of families, with professional support, but also with warmth, time and real encounters,” says Managing Director Elisabeth Brenninkmeijer. “Some children are angry, some are sad, some are struggling, others want to let go at some point. But they all need people who understand their needs and give them security.”
A team of almost 20 qualified nurses provides professional support on a 24-hour basis: medical and nursing expertise, symptom control, psychosocial support and pastoral care – all this is available here, including a physiotherapy room with a wall bars and slide and a nursing bath with a ceiling lift. The house is lovingly furnished, the seriously ill children can distract themselves in the playroom and the “Snoezelen room” stimulates their sensory perception with colors, plays of light and a water bed. Healthy siblings – who often miss out when a child is seriously ill – are also catered for, with guided sibling groups where they can find like-minded friends.
“A children’s hospice is like a mountain pass: a place to recharge your batteries before moving on.”
Elisabeth Brenninkmeijer, Managing Director Flamingo
“Jamy loves life 200%,” says Jenny Kammermann about her 6-year-old. “He is happy, inquisitive and likes other children. He gives us so much, we learn from Jamy every day what is really important in life.” Jamy and his family were one of the first on the admission list for the Flamingo Children’s Hospice, a place that is vital for them, says his mother.
Many people think of the term palliative care: This child is about to die. “That’s not true,” says Elisabeth Brenninkmeijer. Although the children are often severely affected by a genetic defect or a neurological disease, they are otherwise healthy and often live for many years. They go through crises, recover, grow – and need professional support in all these phases. “This is particularly tragic because it is impossible to predict how long a child will live.” Some die as young children, others grow up.
“Will you celebrate my birthday when I’m no longer here?”
Young boy in palliative care
In the children’s hospice, psychologists and, if necessary, chaplains accompany the parents and support them when life comes to an end. In Switzerland, most parents of terminally ill children want their child to be able to die at home in familiar surroundings when the time comes. However, only 17% of the 300-400 children who die in Switzerland each year have this opportunity, according to a study by the Zurich Children’s Hospital.
“A child can only die if its parents allow it,” says Elisabeth Brenninkmeijer. “Some children try to protect their parents and ask us to explain to them “that they can let me go at some point. I don’t want them to be sad.”
Keno is now 14 years old and is plagued by many different symptoms. Maike Nugor and her husband agree: “After the suffering that Keno and we have experienced, we know how bad an acute phase is for Keno. We are prepared to let him go at a time like this.”
The first children’s hospice in the canton of Zurich closes a gap in care
At the Flamingo Children’s Hospice, up to eight children and their families can take a break from everyday life at the same time – for up to 2 weeks at a time and for up to 28 days a year. A family pays CHF 80 per day of stay.
If every room were fully occupied, that would be a maximum of 184 families per year. Still, but far too few.
Hospices are a difficult topic in Switzerland. There are 133 children’s hospices in Europe. In Switzerland, the Flamingo Children’s Hospice is only the second ever. Unlike in other European countries, there are no statutory tariffs for hospices in Switzerland and public funding is limited. Children’s hospices have to finance themselves mainly through donations.
It won’t work without donations
The construction of the Flamingo Children’s Hospice was largely funded by donations. However, the children’s hospice needs around CHF 2.8 million in donations each year to keep it running.
Every donation helps to make this holistic support possible.
It ensures that children experience their individual needs, parents and siblings can experience moments of peace and normality – and that families do not have to go through the most difficult time of their lives alone.
Donate here: Give the gift of life – Flamingo Children’s Hospice
You can find more photos here: Downloads – Swiss Children’s Hospice Foundation
- Photos of families: Copyright Stiftung Kinderhospiz Schweiz, photographer Seraina Semmelroggen
- Photos Flamingo (house): Copyright Swiss Children’s Hospice Foundation, photographer Samuel Pfleumer
Do you have any questions? Please feel free to contact us: Nicola Presti, Communications Officer of the Swiss Children’s Hospice Foundation, Tel.: +41 (0)78 790 48 39, nicola.presti@kinderhospiz-schweiz.ch
Would you like to plan a stay at the Flamingo for your child and your family from 2026 and get to know us? You can find your way to us here!