Published on: Wednesday 14 Apr 2021 at 19:39
Hospice opens up to explain “we are more than you think”
As part of this year’s Dying Matters Week – running 10-16 May, St Clare Hospice will be opening its virtual doors to local people to show them, ‘we are more than you think’.
We will be sharing our news in two Open Hospice events, taking place on Tuesday 11th May at 1pm for health and social care professionals and Tuesday 11th May at 7pm for supporters, via meeting platform Zoom.
Attendees will hear from a range of speakers who will demonstrate the wide-range of services and support available to local people, explaining how people can get involved, and hear about the Hospice’s future plans.
Sally Muylders, Community Engagement and Involvement Manager at St Clare Hospice, said:
“When our community think of St Clare, they often associate us with caring for people in the last days or weeks of their life, on our Inpatient Unit in the Hastingwood hospice. At our Open Hospice events we want to open our doors, virtually, and show that we offer so much more than that. Many people don’t realise that as well as our 8 beds in the Inpatient Unit, at any one time, we are also caring for around 100 people in their own beds, at home.”
“Not only that,” said Sally “but we care for people from the point of diagnosis of a life-limiting condition, offering support and therapies to empower people to remain independent and live their life to the full. Many people are known to St Clare for a number of years, and are supported in different ways to make the most of every moment. We are also here for the whole circle of family and friends, as well as the patient, and offer a holistic service that includes spiritual, social and emotional care – supporting the family through grief too.”
Commenting on her role as Community Engagement and Involvement Manager, Sally Muylders said: “Our aim is to be an open and welcoming place that sits at the heart of our community, and supports local people in the way that they want. It has been through listening to what local people need when facing death, dying and loss, that we have recently developed our new bereavement café groups and bereavement support helpline. Our Open Hospice events will offer a chance for that conversation with local people around what they need to continue, so that the future plans of the Hospice respond to the needs identified by our community.”
Take Part
The Open Hospice events are free, and open to everyone. However, those looking to attend will need to first register on Eventbrite. They will then be sent the details so that they can join one of the two Zoom events.
- To register for the event for local healthcare and voluntary sector professionals at 1pm on Tuesday 11th May click here.
- To register for the event for local people at 7pm on Tuesday 11th May click here.