Forest Holme Hospice - Autumn Newsletter 2021

News Autumn 2021

Charity Number 1038021

Tree Celebration £10,000 raised in memory of loved-ones (page 10)

Dear Friends

Chief Executive, Anne Currie

Welcome to our Autumn newsletter.

The beautiful leaves are starting to turn, the mornings are a little crisper and the change of the seasons is in the air once again. There will be lots of people sad to see the end of summer days and lighter nights, but there will also be many who love the darker, cosier evenings and the run up to the Festive Season (Hello, Strictly…).

I was trying to reflect on, and summarise, the last few months and the one word which keeps popping up is ‘change’. For a lot of us, the way we go about our daily lives has changed. In the last week, I’ve had face to face meetings with our Board of Trustees, our Patron and the full Charity team for the first time in eighteen months. It felt good to have some familiarity back after living life in the virtual world.

During this time, we have been working closely with our friends at another local 2

charity, Macmillan Caring Locally, to see how we can best support University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation’s Trust now merged Palliative and End-of-Life Care service, based across two sites, at both Forest Holme and the Macmillan Unit in Christchurch.

This change gives us a wonderful opportunity to look at how we can further support our clinical and nursing colleagues to meet the ever-growing demand on our services across East Dorset. We need to ensure equity of access to services, maintaining the excellent levels of patient/family care, and with your continued support, can help develop these services both now and in the future.

Your very kind donations, wonderful fundraising efforts and thoughtful gifts in Wills, given during this time, have meant that we were able to fund two new Nurse Development roles to work within the Community and End-of-Life Care teams, a part-time complementary therapist and a third full-time counsellor. Thank you for helping to make a difference to others within your community.

With the change in restrictions during the summer, we were able to hold a scaled down ‘Tie a Yellow Ribbon’ event on a very wet and windy August day in the hospice’s car park. It was lovely to meet so many new people whose loved ones had been cared for by the wonderful teams at Forest Holme during lockdown

and so many familiar faces who we look forward to seeing every year.

The two standout highlights of our team’s year are always this event and Light up a Life which is held in November (page 6).

Again, we are embracing new ways of working and will be holding this year’s event at Long Barrow Ceremony Hall at Harbour View to enable us to have both a physical event and a live stream for supporters who will be unable to join us there. We’d like to thank Tapper Funeral Services for their continued support of the Charity. Both events are a chance to reflect on the changes in our lives with the loss of a loved one and to find support and comfort from the wonderful Forest Holme family around us.

I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank Val Horn who stepped down as our Vice-Chair and Trustee at the start of the summer for all her guidance, support and passion on the Board and welcome Angie Smith to her new role as Vice-Chair of the Charity. We have lots of things we’d like to achieve over the next six to twelve months within Forest Holme and are excited to make this happen.

The team would like to thank everyone who plays their part in supporting the vital work of the Hospice. We are very fortunate to have your continued support during this time.

Contents 2. Welcome / Contents 3. In Memory 6. Light Up A Life 7. Tree Of Remembrance / Christmas Shop 8 Light Up A Life Appeal 9. Hospice News 12. Fundraising For Forest Holme 14. Christmas Cards 16. Meet The Fundraiser 18. Christmas Prize Draw 19. Corporate Support 20. Meet The Hospital Team 22. Halloween Scavenger Hunt 23. Mailing List

With best wishes, Anne

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In Memory Of Noel Ducat

Tree of Remembrance

“Noel and I lived in the Cotswolds and met at secondary school. We were an item at school until he moved away with his parents. He always kept in touch and would quite often turn up to see me. Noel led a very full life. He travelled to many places in the world. He lived in a Kibbutz in Israel. He was very much a people person, wherever he went he made friends. He was always happy to help people and his kindness to others was to his credit. He loved his family and was so proud of his two daughters and their achievements.

So romantic and never to be repeated. After this we had a wonderful relationship together with holidays, family and friends.

In November 2015, Noel was diagnosed with throat cancer and he attended Poole Hospital for radiotherapy and chemotherapy. It was a dreadful time to see him endure the treatment and be in so much pain. This was a man who loved his food, wine and life, it had all been destroyed by this awful cancer and the treatment, only being able to have fluid food through a tube into his stomach. The Ten years ago Noel and I met up again. We support he had from the consultant and had both gone our separate ways, had nursing team was second to none. He was families and had history. My fondest given the all clear several months later and memory was on Valentine’s Day in 2011, on continued to recover. He visited his home in my return from work at 10pm, he was sat France growing his vegetables enjoying the on the stairs waiting for me with a rose, good life, seeing friends; he was renowned supper on the table with a vase a red roses, for his huge curry nights sometimes with 25 on my bed a single rose. plus people. He was an excellent cook.

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By Jane Martin Noel was and helping with advice.

Because of Covid-19 all visits had to stop.

The team also supported me at this difficult time and counselling was offered to which I am still having. Before Noel died he donated £500 to the hospice as a thank you.

Noel left a wish list of items to give to friends, one was for his friend Martin to have his old 'Stumpy' mountain bike to do as he thought best. The pair had enjoyed many bike rides together in their youth, Noel continued to get back on track and their friendship had started in Israel. we started to enjoy our life together Martin looked into the history of the bike, again. and discovered the shop where Noel had In July 2018, the cancer returned, this bought it 40 plus years ago was still in time the it had travelled up into his head existence - the owners remember selling and left eye and the consultant said it was the bike to Noel as a first of its kind. With the same type of cancer. Operating was this in mind Martin decided to sell the considered too risky, so Noel started bike to an appreciative collector, as the treatment again. bike has some scarcity value. He got £250, so donated this to Forest Holme as this is This was when we got introduced to what Noel would have wanted. I Forest Holme pain management team and presented the cheque to Kirsty at the Lymphoedema Clinic. Noel’s goal was to Yellow Ribbon event. With Gift Aid it walk his daughter down the aisle in made it £300.

November 2019, a big feat for him, but he made it. All his pleasures in life were being taken from him, but with the help of Forest Holme he carried on. Nothing was too much trouble for the hospice to provide home comforts and pain relief for Noel. Near to the end, a bed was delivered to the lounge and nursing care visited daily. The pain management nurse Forest Holme Hospice’s care, support, kindness and dedication is second to contacted me daily to see how none. I will continue to support you.”

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The Big Brunch

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Hospice News We are delighted to welcome Chantal Stuart (left), who has joined Forest Holme as a part-time Complementary Therapist, a role that is funded by the Charity.

The Charity is also funding two new fulltime Nurse Development Roles, which has seen Amy Wood (End-of-Life Care) and Rachel Masters (Community) join the hospice team.

Thanks to the generosity of grants from the Hedley Foundation and The Hospital Saturday Fund, we have been able to purchase new chairs (right) for patients at the hospice.

There are many patients at Forest Holme who are more comfortable in a sitting position in the latter stages of their illness rather than laying in bed.

Our chairs receive significant use, and we have a programme of replacing them every five years as repair costs for the mechanisms, upholstery and general maintenance of the chair increases significantly in the latter years of use.

The chairs are made from easy-clean fabric which adheres to infection control guidance, and they are fitted with interchangeable memory foam pressure, relieving headrest and back cushions to suit the needs of the patient. They can also be used by patient’s loved ones if they wish to stay overnight by the bedside.

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Hospice News

It was lovely to welcome people back to the hospice for a mini Tie A Yellow Ribbon event (above, right) in August and, with the dedications made by those who couldn’t attend, the hospice raised over £9,000.

The charity (right) is delighted to welcome Hannah back from maternity leave, while our former Bournemouth University student intern Charlotte has now graduated and joined the fundraising team.

And also...

Thank you to all our supporters who have helped us reach the £10,000 fundraising milestone by making dedications to lovedones on our Celebration Tree (left) in the hospice garden.

The tree was kindly designed, built and installed by Elite Fabrication in 2019 to mark the hospice’s 25th anniversary, while Dolphin Marine offered its services to handcraft and engrave each dedication on a leaf in memory of a loved-one. Both local companies generously donated their time and materials free of charge.

If you're interested in making a leaf dedication please contact the fundraising team by calling 01202 670644 or email kirsty@forestholmehospice.org.uk

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Hospice News The Arnold Clark Community Foundation kindly awarded a grant of £500 to help our Bereavement Counselling Service (right) support people at the most difficult time of their lives.

Charity donations helped purchase copies of ‘As Big As It Gets’ (left) to help support children the counselling team are providing care for at Forest Holme. This specialist book, written by Winston's Wish, offers practical guidance for families and professionals when someone is seriously ill and may die.

We have recently completed a building project on the first floor of the hospice to give our consultants and nurses (right) a much larger and more flexible working space.

Congratulations to 'Hidden Hero' Dawn Hutchings (left, centre) who was nominated during Volunteers Week to receive a stay at one of a selection of hotels across the UK courtesy of our partnership with volunteerrecognition charity Room to Reward.

We were very sad to hear that our long-term supporter Jackie Broughton (right) passed away recently. Jacqui always made a cake for us each year to raffle off at Christmas and even made sure she had one prepared this year before she died.

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Fundraising For Forest Holme Camille with a Skydive (for another favourite charity of mine – Spaniel Aid UK), lucky lady! I always try to donate when I see fundraising campaigns for the hospice, so was hopeful this would go some small way to say thank you to the nurses and staff, as I have never really had the opportunity to give back properly before.

What made you do it for Forest Holme?

The charity is massively important to me (as they cared for my lovely mum – Susan Greenham, when she had Lewy Body Dementia and Cancer). The dementia Bonnie Cyrnik (below, left) very made it very difficult for her to be treated bravely took on a Wing Walk recently in a hospital, even in a shared room with to fundraise for Forest Holme. We sat two other ladies, so Forest Holme Hospice down with her to hear more about her were vitally important to me and my fundraising challenge. family in the thirteen days between Tell us about your challenge for the Cancer diagnosis and her passing. I was hospice? glad to be able to raise some much On 26 June 2021 myself and my needed funds (the final total was £2,123 wonderful friend Camille Campbell-Wild on our Just Giving page), to go a small took part in Forest Holme’s Wing Walk way to saying thank you to the wonderful fundraising event. I had seen a post about staff at Forest Holme. this on the Facebook page and so on a Friday night after a glass of wine, I messaged Camille to see if she fancied signing up for it (she is terrified of heights, but is trying to do 39 crazy things this year before she turns 40 this year, so I thought I would enlist her support!).

To prepare for the Wing Walk – as practice for the heights, I also ‘surprised’ 12

Fundraising For Forest Holme

What does Forest Holme mean to you?

The nurses at Forest Holme gave amazing palliative care to Mum. They supported our whole family, became a home away from home, allowing us to spend her last week or so of life in beautiful surroundings, feeling cared for and loved. I particularly remember a fantastic nurse, Carmel, who was so absolutely wonderful, she is someone I will never forget x.

I think that anybody who has ever visited Forest Holme because they have had friends or family there, will know how truly

special the place is, filled with wonderful staff, who work tirelessly to provide exceptional care.

What would you say to someone considering supporting the hospice?

The Charity needs to raise £2,500 every day to support their work, so I would encourage anybody with the capacity to help, to sign up for fundraising events when they see them – not only will they have great fun, but will ensure that this good work continues!

If you have been inspired by our fundraising Wing Walkers and are feeling brave enough to sign up for one yourself, please get in touch. Email Charlie.james@forestholmehospice.org.uk for more information.

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Chief Executive, Anne Currie

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Meet The Fundraiser brave people who take on a challenge event for us, whether they are taking on a Marathon, a Wing Walk, Skydives or a trek along the Great Wall of China, I’m here to support them with their fundraising for Forest Holme.

What is the best thing about your job?

I’m so lucky to have such an amazing job.

Every day is different, one day we could be dragging a Christmas Tree through Poole town centre and the next having cake with the local WI. The variety is what makes it so good because you never know what you could be doing from one day to the next and I get to meet so many amazing people along the way.

Tell us about your role at Forest Holme I have worked at Forest Holme as a fundraiser for just over four years now.

My role is responsible for building relationships with individuals, schools, community groups and local companies, in the areas of Wareham, Wimborne and Swanage, and encouraging as many of them as possible to support Forest Holme.

I attend meetings with schools, local groups and other organisations to talk about what we do to support patients and families in East Dorset.

Before joining Forest Holme, I worked for an insurance company but knew it wasn’t the career I wanted. I thank my lucky stars every day that I came across this job vacancy and I’m now four years into a job that I am as passionate about now as I was on my first day.

How has the coronavirus pandemic affected you and your role?

It has been hard working from home as I lived in a shared house and my housemates both worked through the pandemic, so I spent all day at home working alone, which was tough as I was so I also organise a variety of fundraising used to being with the team all day every events from the Great Hospice Hike to day, it was lonely. All our fundraising Afternoon Teas and our annual Light Up A events and activities had to be cancelled or Life service. As well as supporting all of the postponed and we had to quickly adapt to 16

Meet The Fundraiser

the changes. Changing everything to being virtual and trying to interact virtually when we were all so used to being face-to-face, was a challenge, but we are a strong team and did what we could to keep in contact with all of our supporters, volunteers and other teams and try to keep the charity going. We supported each other and we are now an even stronger team than we were before.

What are you hoping for in the year ahead?

I can’t wait for things to get back to normal. To be back working with my amazing team who I miss so much, to see all of our wonderful supporters and volunteers and to be seeing events

starting back up. But mostly to be able to hug everyone again as, like Kirsty, I am a massive hugger and can’t wait to squeeze everyone.

And finally, tell us something about yourself that we may not already know?

I have a phobia of pigs and I once got a tiny piece of Lego stuck up my nose and had to have an operation to remove it - this was when I was two, not last year!

If you’re interested in taking on a challenge to support Forest Holme, you can get in touch with Charlie via email charlie.james@forestholmehospice.org.uk 9 17

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Hospice News Corporate Support Primark (left) in Poole has chosen to support Forest Holme Hospice for another year as its chosen charity, while we have a new charity partnerships with PJC Accounting Services (above) and Kiteleys Solicitors (left) who have both chosen to support Forest Holme Hospice as its Charity of the Year.

The Dolphin Shopping Centre (right) has continued to support the hospice as its current charity partner through bucket collections during a summer season of live music, as well via the contactless donation podium in the centre.

Jon Pankhurst at David Lloyd Club in Poole (left) organised a six hour Cardio Tennis Marathon event which raised £1,804 for Forest Holme.

Support from local companies can come in many forms, from a Charity of the Year partnership, employee fundraising or by supporting our fundraising activity through sponsorship or gifts in kind. If you would like to find out how your company or employer can get involved, please contact fundraising@forestholmehospice.org.uk or call 01202 670644.

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Meet The Hospital Team

Tell us about the hospital team In the Specialist palliative Care team there are three nurses - Emma, Sandy and Lynn.

We review and assess and support patients with a life-limiting illnesses. This involves managing patients throughout the trust with complex symptoms and psychological needs. We support patients and their families with advance care planning discussions and also provide expert advice for health care professionals .

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Vanessa is our End-of-Life Care Specialist Nurse; she provides support to patients’ families and ward staff to promote comfort and dignity in their final days of life. New in post and working alone side Vanessa is Amy, who is in the developmental role for End-of-Life/ Palliative Care and Liz who is our new Endof-Life Practice Educator. Her role is to promote and standardise excellent End-ofLife Care for all patients where ever they are throughout the Trust.

Meet The Hospital Team In what ways does your work tie-in with Forest Holme Hospice?

We try to ensure patients in the main Trust can access the same level of palliative care as they would receive in the hospice setting.

We work collaboratively with the medical and community team at Forest Holme for patient continuity of care.

How difficult was it working during the height of the Covid pandemic?

We changed our way of working during this period, with specialist hospital, community and end-of-life care life nurses coming together to focus resources where it was needed most. We found this time challenging, but felt we provided good end of life care to those patients who needed it the most.

Are you expecting to be under considerable winter pressure this year and what measures will be put in place to help cope with the predicted rise in admissions?

As expected the hospitals are full and this is expected to continue, we are already receiving higher number of referrals and expect this to rise further during the winter months.

As a result of the change in the way we worked during the pandemic, all specialist palliative care services are working more closely together to best utilise resources.

Forest Holme Hospice Charity funds the Developmental Role for End-of-Life/Palliative Care and also contributes two days worth of nursing to the hospital’s palliative care Community Nurse Specialist Team.

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Charity Number 1038021

Contact Us If you would like more information about the care the hospice provides or how to fundraise for us, we would love to hear from you.

Forest Holme Hospice 5 Seldown Road, Poole, Dorset, BH15 1TS T: 01202 670644 (Charity) T: 0300 019 8147 (Hospice) E: fundraising@forestholmehospice.org.uk Charity No:1038021

w w w. f o r e s t h o l m e h o s p i c e . o r g . u k Forestholme

@ForestHolme

@forestholmehospice

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