Hospice News

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. 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.

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.

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

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.