No.146 | July 2020
Coping through the pandemic PLUS
Sustainable shopping News Events
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INTRODUCTION
Welcome to your latest edition of Hospice News
In these strange times, we have all made huge changes to our personal lives. On top of that, it’s been an extraordinary time for all the clinical teams working at Brentry, in the Community, or from home. In this issue we hear from Kate Way one of our Hospice at Home nurses and Jayne Beard from our Hospice Advice Line about their experiences so far. Adaptability, flexibility and team work seem to be the core themes running through these.
Everyone deserves an Emma in their precious, final days Emma is more than a nurse to Marcus in his final days. She is his friend. Every one of us at St. Peter’s Hospice, from Sarah the consultant to Bill the volunteer driver, is devoted to bringing comfort and peace to patients and their loved ones. This is more than end-of-life care, this is family. Help our family be there in the future, with a gift in your Will.
If you would like more information about how you can support the Hospice in this way, please get in touch at legacy@stpetershopsice.org or call on 01275 391400. Thank you for considering leaving a gift in your Will to St. Peter’s Hospice. This is more than endof-life care, this is family.
Things have and continue to change at a very fast pace; some teams have faced more change and disruption than others but everyone has been impacted. However, the teams have continued to do what they do best, offer fantastic care and support to our patients and their loved ones.
Contents Adapting to COVID-19
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Access Line
6-7
In the community 8-9 Shopping with us
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Fundraising
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Day Services
14-15
Patient and Family Support
16-17
Puzzle
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A gift to the Hospice 19
Stay safe
Chris Benson Director of Patient Care
Enquiries: 0117 915 9400 24/7 Advice Line: 0117 915 9430 stpetershospice.org
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COVID-19
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COVID-19
Hospice at Home Since the outbreak of COVID-19, a lot has changed at the Hospice. Those first few weeks were tough; we were making daily, sometimes even hourly changes to the way we were working in order to stay in line with the Government’s advice. "I’m Kate and I’m a nurse in our Hospice at Home team; we visit patients out in the community generally when they’re within, or nearing, the final four weeks of their life. We’re currently seeing more patients that have tested positive for COVID-19, and many more suspected cases. Not everyone has been able to access testing so we are approaching all patients as though they have the virus. This means wearing PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) at all times. It can be really hard to follow the guidance in these situations. Ideally we’d only have one other person in the room when we’re caring for the patient so that we’re adhering to social distancing. This is challenging for a lot of families. Caring in this environment is tough because it goes against everything that feels right. Naturally we want to show empathy and compassion through touch and closeness. We aren’t able to hug, or rest a reassuring hand on someone’s arm. It has created a barrier which is sad and strange, but we know we have to do this to be able
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to keep coming into people’s homes and delivering great care. We’ve also been challenged by an increase in referrals from GPs and the NHS where they have been adjusting themselves to cope with COVID-19 patients. And we lost about a third of our workforce due to sickness and self-isolation. Overall, within Hospice at Home and indeed the whole organisation, we have dealt with what has at times felt like endless challenges. But we have dealt with them as a team, and are constantly looking out for each other. There have been some wobbles and anxieties but we have got through them together. We’re even getting support from our own Hospice therapy team. COVID-19 is making life at the Hospice hard but it’s not stopping us from doing what we do best and that’s caring for our patients and their loved ones. Together with your support, we’ve got this."
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ADVICE LINE
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ADVICE LINE
The team behind the telephone The Hospice Advice Line is a 24 hour phone line manned by a very experienced team of specialist nurses. They speak round the clock to patients and carers, and give expert palliative care advice to other professionals like paramedics, district nurses, GPs, care homes and prisons. Since the outbreak of COVID-19 they’ve seen an incredible 100.3% increase in calls. It’s meant some quick thinking on how to change the way they work so that they can run the line as usual. Team Leader Jayne tells us more. "Generally, patients call us when something changes that they don’t understand, like for example, the symptoms they’re experiencing. Dealing with a terminal illness is terribly isolating, and that feeling has been heightened even more recently. Normal family or support networks aren’t the same, more people are dealing with their illness on their own for periods of time which is incredibly hard and scary. It’s hard for carers too. We’ve been getting a lot of calls from people who are caring for loved ones in hospital or a care home, struggling with the lack of visiting time. When you know you have precious little time left with
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someone, having that taken away is devastating. Although we can’t change this, we can empathise. Often people say that it helps just to talk to someone and get it out of their system. In the context of COVID-19 calls are so important, and we’re taking more of them than ever. To make sure that no call goes unanswered we have had to face up to the challenges fast, and create a system that works. We’ve modified and improved our phone system and had support from other clinical teams in the organisation. One of the things we’ve focussed on since the outbreak is how to relieve pressure from other healthcare professionals as they also work to cope with the effects of COVID-19. So we’ve simplified our referral process, making it much quicker and easier.
"Please never think you are just another voice at the end of the phone – you are so much more".
It’s been amazing to watch the team spring into action and witness how adaptable they are. The closeness and physical interactions may have stopped, but emotionally we’re still here for each other every day."
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Advice Line caller
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COMMUNITY
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Caring in the community
On reflection, I can see how throughout all of this, my colleagues and patients are incredibly adaptable. It didn’t take long to be able to communicate with patients face to face with the technology available. I’m currently supporting an 80 year old lady via a video call! When I spoke to her partner, she told me that as a couple they agreed that video calls are the next best thing, and that it’s just nice to be able to see someone’s face, even if it is on a screen.
Our Community Nurse Specialist team are usually out and about every day, visiting patients all over. They work geographically from four different bases covering Bristol, South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and BANES (Bath and North East Somerset). They care for our patients in their own homes, giving advice on symptom control, medication, and offering emotional support, not just to patients but their families also. The range of illnesses they see patients with are vast, and include Cancer, Motor Neurone Disease, Respiratory and Cardiac Failure to name but a few.
"For me, getting used to working digitally was something I had to adapt to. We had to move really fast as guidance around visiting was changing daily. Initially it felt really strange not being able to meet with people in their homes, and of course working from home myself.
At the moment, where it’s absolutely needed, visits are still happening in person with appropriate PPE in place. The team have adapted quickly to be able to facilitate this as best as possible. They’ve moved away from each nurse having their own caseload, and instead, the team share patients meaning they can offer more regular phone and video calls.
Usually when someone is referred to us they are understandably anxious and don’t know what to expect. Meeting face to face helps to alleviate that; part of our job is to make people feel at ease and fully supported. So not having face to face contact didn’t sit comfortably with me at first. What I’ve learnt however, is that the skills and experience gained in this role are as useful over the phone as in person. One of my new patients recently said to me that he feels like he knows me, even though we haven’t met!
Emma is one of our Community Nurse Specialists and tells us all about how it’s been for her.
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COMMUNITY
"It didn’t take long to be able to communicate with patients face to face with the technology available. I’m currently supporting an 80-yearold lady via a video call!" Follow us
My patients have been really honest with me and have given me positive feedback, which is great to hear. One of my patients contacted me concerned about some swelling on her face, I was able to do a video call so that I could see her, make an assessment and take appropriate action. It’s really great to see how much value I can still add from home, it’s not ideal but we’ve met the challenge head on and it’s working. But don’t get me wrong, I miss seeing my patients so much. As great as digital is, I can’t wait to get back to normal."
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SHOPS
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Sustainable Fashion
The sustainable fashion movement has gained huge momentum recently, as more and more of us have become aware of the environmental impact of fast fashion. The sustainable fashion movement is all about making a change to existing fashion products and manufacturing to make them kinder to our planet. It is not just about production but also how we buy our clothes, how long we wear them for and what we do with them when we don’t want them anymore.
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EVENTS
Events Because of the pandemic, our events are looking a little different this year. We’re hoping there will still be plenty to get involved with, and we’re delighted to announce we’ve launched Madmess My Way. We may not be able to come together for the annual Madmess 5k, but we can still enjoy a fun run packed full of colour and raise funds for the Hospice. You can choose to complete 5k or the Kid’s Kilometre in any way you want – walk, run, scoot, skip, it’s up to you! We’ll send you a St Peter’s t-shirt and a pack of paint to get messy.
Feel good when you shop and donate with us Over the last few years you may have heard a lot about sustainable fashion.
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The good news is, for those of you who regularly donate or shop with St Peter’s Hospice, that you are already making a massive contribution towards making fashion more environmentally friendly.
Sign up for Madmess My Way at madmess.co.uk
What’s next? We’re also hoping to hold some of our events later in the year, with extra social distancing safety measures. Tour de Bristol will be taking place on 24 October, and we’ll be giving you an update on Midnight Walk soon. With Walk to Remember this November, we’ll take a moment to remember loved ones on a three mile sponsored walk. See you soon!
Since we opened our very first shop back in 1981, we have been reducing waste, recycling clothes and finding new homes for pre-loved items. Every time you donate to us or buy an item in one of our stores you are making a positive contribution, not just to the Hospice but also the world around us.
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FUNDRAISING
Thank you for your support! Our community fundraising has been affected by COVID-19 so we’d like to say a huge thank you to every one of our community supporters who’ve so kindly fundraised or donated to the Hospice over the last few months. Here are two great examples of what you’ve been getting up to.
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Local Lotto CHALLENGE 67 Katie Williams and her daughters, Lily and Ruby, sadly lost their Grampy, Brian Evans, a year ago to cancer. So together on the 14 May they completed 67 miles (Brian’s age) by going on the turbo trainer and by cycling and walking! Katie says, "It all went very well and not too painful (well the day after we were). We are so overwhelmed with the amount we raised and the girls were very excited when we reached the £1,000 mark. We are so grateful to the Hospice for all the help they gave Dad and the support they gave us through it all too."
Playing the Local Lotto is a great way to support us, whilst being in with a chance to win £1,000 every week, even during lockdown. Jon is one of the lucky lockdown Local Lotto winners. "The win was an absolute shock and couldn’t have come at a better time! It gives me and my partner a bit more financial security knowing that if anything were to happen to our jobs, we’d be able to pay the bills for a few months. I’m an avid fundraiser for St Peter’s Hospice, so as a thank you for the £1,000 jackpot win my next goal is to raise £1,000 for the Hospice. I am not sure what I’ll do yet, but I know it will have to be big to raise that kind of money! Maybe a skydive?"
THE 2.6 CHALLENGE You collectively raised over £15,000 during the 2.6 Challenge which will make a huge difference to the Hospice! The Hester family got involved and set themselves a tough challenge - ten year old Maddie ran 2.6km a day for ten days, and thirteen year old Theo cycled 100 laps of Parry’s Lane for 10 days which totalled nearly 200km! Through sponsorship and donations they raised a brilliant £1,350 for the Hospice. Maddie says, "I found it a great way to get active and most days it was fun but some runs were harder than others!"
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FUNDRAISING
Jon has been a valued supporter of ours since we cared for one of his close family friends. As part of the team Mandy’s Mob, he has taken part in fundraising events for us for three years now, and completed the Portishead Triathlon last year. Thank you Jon! For just £1 a week, you can join our members in being in with a chance of winning. Every week we make another St Peter's Hospice supporter £1,000 better off. Join today and be in with the chance of winning £1,000. For more information visit; www.stpetershospice.org.uk/ support-us/local-lotto/ or contact Bobbie on 01275 391115
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STAFF
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STAFF
Day Services during lockdown We’re navigating changing times at the Hospice and one of the ways we’ve adapted is by redeploying staff members to work in different areas. When we sadly had to temporarily close down Day Services, the team of Registered Nurses, Occupational Therapists, Complimentary Therapists and a Health Care Assistant, were naturally redeployed to the Hospice’s Inpatient Unit. You may recognise Katie as the manager of our Day Services department. "The patients we see are some of the most vulnerable out there so closing was incredibly tough. So many people rely on the Wellbeing Programme, Drop In sessions and of course Day Hospice. These are all places where patients can relax, and where we get to know them and understand the entire picture of their life. Yes we support patients medically, but our support is also about the whole person. It’s a safe space and one they leave feeling like they’ve gained skills to enhance their life and improve their wellbeing. Being on the Inpatient Unit has been a really good experience. It’s familiar for some of us – I used to be a Sister there. I really couldn’t be prouder of my team; they’ve demonstrated commitment,
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flexibility and compassion in their work and completely hit the ground running. In healthcare you pull together and the Inpatient Unit team is amazing to be part of. Yes we work separately usually, but ultimately we are one team dedicated to delivering the very best patient care. For me personally, it’s sad to see my service temporarily gone, but I feel so lucky that I’ve been able to have contact with patients and families on the unit over the past 12 weeks. I’ve loved taking care of the patients and families on the Inpatient Unit, and I feel it is a privilege to care for someone at the end of their life. Going forward, I’m going to start adapting the delivery of Day Services. We’ll be working on a virtual model so we can still support patients and families in the community." The Day Services team weren’t the only ones to be redeployed, we’ve welcomed many of our shop staff to the Hospice to help with a whole range of things from cleaning, to cooking and keeping our beautiful gardens going.
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"I love coming in because I’m with people that are my norm." Day Hospice patient
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SUPPORT
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Patient and Family support
SUPPORT
"It wasn't long before we realised that we can offer great patient care virtually." Karen (pictured, left)
For our Patient and Family Support team, finding new ways of working has meant they can continue to provide support. Face to face would usually be one of the main ways they work with people, but they’ve expertly handled a swift move to a variety of digital tools including telephone and various types of video calling. Karen manages the team and is also a practitioner herself. Here she tells us all about what life has been like for her and her team over the past couple of months. "Our team consists of a social work team, Art Psychotherapists, a Bereavement Coordinator, Occupational Therapists, Physios, a Multi-Faith Team Leader, two Administrators and a large group of volunteers! Initially it was hard for us, so much of what we do is face to face, whether it’s in people’s homes, on the Inpatient Unit or in our therapy rooms at the Hospice. But the team are incredibly adaptable, as are our clients, and it wasn’t long before we realised that we can offer great patient care virtually. Many of our clients are really happy to chat over the phone or use video, in fact I’m
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supporting someone at the moment and we have a video call call every week which is working really well. Our Therapists are working from our therapy rooms as well as from home, and with some clients they’re still able to use art as a therapy by using the same creative materials together on a video call. Before the pandemic, our Occupational and Physiotherapists were running a Fatigue and Breathlessness course. This has had to stop but we can still support people with managing their symptoms over the phone. In addition, the team have created a range of resources which will be available on our website including videos so people with visual impairments can access them too. Crucially, amongst all of this, we’re supporting each other. My team have been available to all clinical staff across the Hospice, a service that we’re so pleased to be able to offer." Karen also heads up our Day Services, which you’ve just heard Katie talking about on the previous page.
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14. Those who dare do this in the 1982 action thriller
FUN
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16. There were 4 of them in this 1994 Richard Curtis comedy
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DONATIONS
18. Maverick’s sidekick in ‘Top Gun’ 20. Film about the blue inhabitants of Pandora (2009) 21. Scottish ‘Star’ of The Water Horse (2016) 23. ‘Gloria’ was one of these in ‘Madagascar
Take a break
A gift of visors
24. Madonna starred in this 1996 musical story of the rise and fall of Argentina’s ‘First Lady’ 25.’City of Ghosts’ (2017) depicted the atrocities of this terrorist group
Try our film themed crossword and win a £20 voucher to use in any of our shops!* Send your completed crossword to us, or take a photo and email it to communications@stpetershospice. org. Be sure to include your name and contact details. The winner will be picked at random and contacted on 22 August. The discount does not apply to new goods. Your total spend (less the value of any new goods) must be £20 or over. The voucher can only be used once and must be handed to the cashier to claim the offer. Only valid in St Peter’s Hospice shops, not eBay or our coffee shop. Voucher must be used by 22/02/2021. *Please check our website for an up-to-date list of which shops are currently open.
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We’ve gratefully received so many incredible donations to the Hospice, since the outbreak of COVID-19.
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ACROSS 1. The Sheep Pig, 1995 (4) 3. Name of the dog in the Back to the Future films (8) 10. 1935 Fred Astaire hit ___ Hat (3) 11. ______ Miss Daisy, 1989 (6) 12. Ben Hur 1959, and Gone With The Wind 1939, are classed as these (5) 13. Robbie Coltrane and Eric Idle were these ‘on the run’ in 1990 (4) 14. The Darkest Hour was all about him, 2017 (7) 15. 1921 Charlie Chaplin film The ___ (3) 17. A tale of insects, A ____ Life, 1998 (4) 19. The Imitation ____ was about codebreaker Alan Turing, 2014 (4) 22. She had a difficult choice to make in this 1982 film (6) 24. Howard’s ____ a 1992 romance starred Helena Bonham-Carter (3) 26. Bert’s occupation in Mary Poppins (5) 27. Where the Brown family met their bear (7) 28. Hilarious CIA Melissa McCarthy film, 2015 (3) 29. Damien is the sinister child in this 1976 horror (4) 30. Feline flop of 2019 (4)
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‘Movie’ Crossword
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You, our community, have really been there for us and we are so thankful. One of these amazing donations was 200 visors from Phil and his team at Brunel Engraving Company. Phil’s mum Sue, who lived in Clevedon, was cared for at the Hospice back in winter 2018 after her breast cancer spread to her liver, and became terminal. We spoke to Phil about his experience of the Hospice, and what inspired him to make and donate the much needed visors.
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DOWN 1. ________ And Broomsticks, 1971 (8) 2. Irreverent banned comedy Life of _____ 1979 (5) 4. Starred opposite Humphrey Bogart in this 1942 Moroccan romance (6) 5. There were 39 of them! (5) 6. ___ Banana, 1954 film starring Phil Silvers (3) 7. The Phantom Menace is also known as _______ I (7) 8. The Girl kicked this in a 2009 thriller (4) 9. ___ Cup, a 1996 golfing film (3) 14. Those who dare do this in the 1982 action thriller (3) 16. There were four of them in this 1994 Richard Curtis comedy (8) 18. Maverick’s sidekick in Top Gun, 1986 (5) 20. Film about the blue inhabitants of Pandora, 2009 (6) 21. Scottish star of The Water Horse, 2016 (6) 23. Gloria was one of these in Madagascar (5) 24. Madonna starred in this 1996 musical story of the rise and fall of Argentina’s First Lady (5) 25. City of Ghosts depicted the atrocities of this terrorist group, 2017 (4)
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"When Mum was moved to palliative care, near the end of her illness, we were told she might be able to go to St Peter’s Hospice. To be honest, we didn’t hold out much hope so when Mum told us she had a place, we wondered if she’d got it quite right. But it turned out she did, and it was such a huge relief for all of us. Mum was actually one of the first patients to use the Hospice after the rebuild. It was brand spanking new, and having a private room for her was an absolute godsend. We had a room at the back that overlooked a small field with trees. Mum absolutely loved wildlife and here she could sit outside her room, or just look out the window and
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often spot the odd squirrel and rabbit. We also enjoyed being able to wheel her to the café to spend some time there. All the staff were so accommodating. My partner, kids and I have done a few bits of volunteering at events for the Hospice, and I was thinking recently about how we might be able to help them through the pandemic. At my company we have all of the equipment and machinery to be able to make visors, so I thought I’d get in touch to see if that would be helpful. And it was. So we got to work and I popped up to deliver them. It was weird being back there, but so lovely to see the familiar faces at reception. I’d love to go back again once the pandemic has passed, and say hello to all of the people who looked after Mum, and also see the gardens now they’re finished. But for now, I’m just pleased I’m able to help out."
Sue, Phil’s mum
No matter what the future holds, with your support we’ll be here for you. Make a donation today stpetershospice.org/donate 0117 915 9400
Thank you