The Knowledge Center for Pediatric Palliative Care is growing

Our team has been expanded with two new employees. They are happy to introduce themselves to you.

Laura Ruitenburg - project and policy support officer

"My name is Laura Ruitenburg and in March I started as a project and policy support officer at the Knowledge Center for Palliative Care for Children. With my background as a physiotherapist in neurorehabilitation and in various positions as a policy and quality advisor in healthcare, I am happy to contribute to improving the pediatric palliative care optimize care for children, families and (care) professionals.

My intrinsic motivation to want to add value to pediatric palliative care stems from my own experiences with my care-intensive daughter. The complex issues in child care are often intensive for the children   and   the families concerned. The efforts made by the Knowledge Centre   and Network Integrated Child Care for child palliative care are of great added value for these families.

It feels like a mission to contribute to this. Families are relieved because there is a professional network around them. This makes them feel behaved. I see it as a challenge to connect people by sharing knowledge and working together across the boundaries of their own field. Working from a perspective where the child and the family are central. Being in the Netherlands   and many good initiatives are being launched to further improve this care and through an integrated approach of organizations and care professionals, child care will be able to develop even further.

I look forward to contributing to this within the Knowledge Center for Palliative Care for Children. If you have any questions or if you would like to exchange ideas about my story, I would like to get in touch with you."

Ivon Knottnerus - back-up network coordinator for the NIK, project leader within NPPZ II and policy officer

"From 1 February I started at the Knowledge Center for Palliative Care for Children as a back-up network coordinator for the Integrated Child Care Networks, project leader within NPPZll and policy officer.

Originally I am an HBO nurse. My career started in the maternity ward and delivery rooms. Here I worked for many years as an obstetrics and gynecology nurse. From there I went into district nursing and worked as a district nurse in Limburg for a number of years. Working with children has always been my wish since my studies. When the opportunity arose to help build a new home care organization in which children's home care would be a part, I took up the challenge. For a number of years we have been building children's home care in Limburg with everything that comes with it. From coordinating and organizing care, implementing care, monitoring financing, developing policy and much more. In March 2022, a takeover took place in which we became part of a large organization. Within that organization I was busy embedding child care within the organization. The focus was on meeting all preconditions and quality criteria to include child care.

In all the years that I have worked in children's home care, I have always been connected to the Network Integral Child Care in our region. Participating in the consultations and connecting with colleagues from the field have always been very inspiring to me. By looking at healthcare together and daring to look beyond walls, you come across your own gray areas. And you can develop further as a professional and therefore also as an organization. I see keeping up with national developments as a must and a challenge, but also a very big concern. We all face this challenge. When I heard that there was a possibility to become part of the Children's Palliative Care Knowledge Center, my heart jumped. Building the preconditions needed to properly set up palliative and palliative terminal care for children and adolescents is a challenge that I seize with both hands. I can play an active role in tackling the challenges that lie ahead. With my knowledge and experience of healthcare, I hope to be able to continue to make that link directly to practice. Due to the nice combination of functions that I have, I also see myself as a connector between the various parts of the Knowledge Center for Pediatric Palliative Care.

All in all a very big challenge to take on. But one that suits me and gives me the opportunity to support the families I have been so close to in a different way. I hope that together we will manage to remove concerns among families about the organization and coordination of care. That's what I'm going for! So that they can enjoy more and have time for each other."