Hospice News Autumn/Winter 2022

Memories

For many of those the Emotional and Psychological Support team (EPS) work with, memories can be complicated.

They are the link to those they dearly miss and who are no longer accessible in ways they once were. They can also be at times, painful, complex, and confusing. They can pose questions that are difficult to answer, highlight regrets and remind us of the challenging times experienced in loss.

We believe it’s important to reflect on our experiences authentically, remembering the happy and the sad, the things that went well and those that didn’t. Speaking to a member of the EPS team can be a way to make sense of these memories, and learn to live with them so that the good ones are not obscured by the bad. Living with grief is not about learning to forget, it’s about learning how to stay well as you remember.

Thanks to your ongoing generosity we can support hundreds of people every year. Thank you so much.

Hospice Update

Our Hospice at Home service brings care directly to our patients' doors.

Hospice at Home is a community nursing service, made up of Senior Health Care Assistants and Registered Nurses, whose focus is on supporting people in the last four weeks of their life, and who wish to die at home. In April 2021 we combined our existing team with three other small community ones making one large team to support anyone over eighteen years old within Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.

Bringing four small teams together, many with vacant posts, and during a pandemic was a challenge. But from day one, existing and new staff have been absolutely remarkable. Our staff are motivated by giving patients and their families the best care they can offer. They have achieved this, despite the many challenges of Covid, staff isolating, shift changes, working behind PPE and building new relationships with colleagues. We are immensely proud of what they have achieved.

From April 2021 to April 2022, Hospice at Home supported 592 patients to

die in their own homes, delivering 7,365 visits. The new model focusses on delivering care once, twice or three times daily, depending on the patient’s changing needs. Our next step, resource allowing, is to increase our team so we can offer more night support to our patients, as this is always very appreciated by the families we support.

"As a family we wanted to say how thankful we are for the help, care and expertise that you gave mum and us during the last few days of mum’s life… We would like to say how thoughtful and respectful your team was… each showed such incredibly high levels of emotional intelligence; knowing when to be encouraging, when to offer a hug, or when just to be silent, what else can we say but thank you.”

A recipient of Hospice at Home support

Chris Benson Director of Patient Care

Hospice Gardens

“Fifteen years ago, the garden was quite dated. It had an old-fashioned layout and shrubs which had been planted when the Hospice was built. They’d become big blobs of green, blocking a lot of views from patient’s bedrooms.

With the help of our volunteers, we ripped them out and put in many herbaceous perennials for more colour and interest. The Hospice rebuild, which started in 2017 also gave us the opportunity for a more modern layout in the garden. I like the fluid shapes and the meandering paths through the beds, which allow you to be up close to the plants. Patients and visitors sometimes recognise a plant that they may have in their own garden and stop to chat with me or the volunteers as they wander through, and sometimes they test our memories to recall the name of plants. I love that we still have the parkland on one side with vistas through trees and an environment that encourages wildlife.

Around the Memory Tree, we planted sections of Rosemary hedge. Rosemary is thought to be good for

The grounds at Brentry are integral to the care and support that we give to patients and their families. Hospice gardener Sarah Townsend shares her memories.

your memory, and people can break a bit off and smell it while they’re there. The walled garden is a safe space outside some of our rooms, where patients who are experiencing memory challenges can enjoy the fresh air. It’s designed with curved paths, which enable you to walk a circle around the

garden and never meet a dead end.

Some of the planting in here is a remnant of the old garden in 2017.

The trees on the back wall and the birch tree were safeguarded from the builders and I’ve recently added some dwarf fruit trees, so that patients or visitors can pick an apple.”

"I like the fluid shapes and the meandering paths through the beds, which allow you to be up close to the plants."

Sarah

Providing Care with Dignity and Respect

Every person is unique and how an illness impacts their lives will be individual to them. That’s why we get to know that person, what and who matters to them, and then centre our care and support around this.

"Our staff will work with the person and their family to help plan and support them, always seeking to ensure we keep them at the centre of all we do, maintaining their personhood."

Retaining patient dignity is very important. An example of this is when a person’s memory is affected by their illness. This can be frustrating, distressing, and frightening both for them and those important to them, such as family and friends. Providing our care with respect and maintaining the person’s dignity is essential in all we do.

There are illnesses where we can predict that a change to memory might

be likely. Our staff will work with the person and their family to help plan and support them, always seeking to ensure we keep them at the centre of all we do, maintaining their personhood.

We were fortunate, when planning the rebuild of the Inpatient Unit, to be able to include a walled garden. This fantastic outdoor space allows patients to be outside in a safe area. Something we're really proud to offer.

Events to Remember

For many of the events we hold throughout the year, people choose to join in memory of someone special and to think of them as they take part.

Sarah's Walk to Remember

"My mum Marie was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer in July 2020, and spent her final days being cared for by the amazing team at St Peter's Hospice. Even with Covid restrictions in place, myself, my two sisters and mum's husband were able to be at mum's side until the end, something which was very important to us. We will be forever grateful for the support both mum, and us as a family received, and continue to receive, through the bereavement service.

We took part in the Walk to Remember and made it a family affair! Being part of the walk meant we, as a family, were able to walk in beautiful surroundings, talk about mum, and remember the beautiful, fantastic woman she was, whilst also raising crucially needed money for the Hospice."

Join this year’s Walk to Remember on 23 October.

A Rugby March for Steve

“Steve was a gentle soul with a big heart. As his friends, we all took part in the Rugby March in his honour and he passed away shortly after. We take part in the Rugby March because Steve knew what

a wonderful place the Hospice is. He said the people there were like angels. We are all Steve's friends, and this is our way of thanking St Peter's Hospice for making his final days so peaceful and dignified.”

Steve's Buddies

Community Support

How Severnside Support Group volunteers raise awareness and funds for the Hospice.

Severnside Support Group was founded in November 1985, after Mrs Joan Bourne, MBE, gave a talk regarding the work we do at a meeting organised by Deaconess Rowe. The group has been a presence within the community, promoting the Hospice, ever since.

They are run entirely by volunteers and hold five events a year, which have included a Christmas Coffee Morning, Quiz Nights, a Jubilee Afternoon Tea and a Garden Party.

Over the last 37 years, Severnside Support Group has raised an incredible £380,000, and they have celebrated milestones in many different ways. Their 30th anniversary was marked with a Flower Festival and the publication of a cookbook.

Kath Burgess, who runs the group, says “family of several members have received Hospice care and support, but we have all been touched in some way by the care, compassion and dignity of St Peter’s Hospice.”

“We no longer have a committee

as such, but a wonderful band of willing helpers who all enjoy each other’s company, and we treat the fundraising events as part of our social calendar. We couldn’t do it without the terrific support by all those who attend”.

We are so grateful to our community supporters who help in so many ways.

Our Volunteers

Our volunteers make an enormous contribution to the Hospice. Without their help we couldn’t provide as much of the support we offer to patients and families. In this article we hear from some of our volunteers about the connection they have to the Hospice and they share some of their favourite memories…

Angela & Sue

We’ve been volunteering together for over 20 years. We responded to an advert in the Evening Post and first started when the Hospice was located in Knowle. We met and have been friends ever since! We started helping out at the Day Hospice and then began organising all the transportation to the Day Hospice. Now we volunteer together at the coffee shop at the Hospice in Brentry.

We loved helping at the Day Hospice. We would greet the patients, chat to

them, serve them drinks and a 3-course lunch, then crumpets with cheese in the afternoon. It was a very relaxed atmosphere and allowed patients to mix with other people in the same position as them. Sometimes they also got their hair and nails done and were made to feel so special.

Angela (left) & Sue (right)

Angela

Volunteering at the Bedminster shop is like being with family. I go in for two hours a day, three days a week. I work upstairs mainly, steaming, hanging and pricing our donations. In the past I’ve suffered with depression and anxiety, and thirteen years ago my support worker introduced me to the shop to see how I would get on. It’s given me a second chance at life. It’s good therapy for me and everyone is so supportive. Everyone is so friendly and I feel like I’m not alone. My favourite memories at the shop? It has to be dressing up for Christmas - I’ve been an Elf, Bat Woman

Gordon

I’ve been volunteering for the Hospice for almost 10 years in three very different roles. I volunteer on reception in the Inpatient Unit and, in the Long Ashton office, I help with IT in the Fundraising Team and also do some banking. I started volunteering when my dad was cared for by the Hospice. He was looked after so well in his last week.

One night when I was visiting him, I stepped out to get some air and started chatting with the receptionist who

and Minnie Mouse! And not forgetting our wonderful cake sales.

explained she was a volunteer. I thought, I could do that and give a little bit back for all the help we’d had. Helping patients and families in Brentry is quite different to my volunteering at the fundraising office. One memory that will stay with me forever is being sprayed from head to toe in mud, trying to help an ambulance stuck in the grass at Brentry. The nurses were in hysterics and, needless to say, I was allowed to leave my shift early that night!

Memory Tree

If you have visited the Hospice gardens in Brentry, you may have come across our Memory Tree. Many families have added a copper leaf, engraved with the name of their loved one. The tree was sculpted by a local blacksmith and has been 'planted' in the corner of the garden, to create a tranquil and private place for families to spend time in remembrance.

Judith from Stockwood has shared her memories of her husband Nigel, who was cared for by the Hospice before he passed away in 2019. The family had a leaf inscribed for him, which they hung last year.

“The tree is somewhere quiet, somewhere peaceful and somewhere that Nigel loved. It’s something tangible and everlasting in the garden and a place where we can gather and remember him. Before he came to the Hospice, Nigel was frightened. The Hospice took away the anxiety for him and for us. He was a caring, friendly, easy going and popular man. He had a wicked grin and was a naughty boy when he was young! He loved pink, and lots of people at his funeral wore pink as a tribute to him.”

When Nigel became more unwell, he was admitted to the Inpatient Unit for a review of his

medication and at that point he became calmer and the anxiety left him. He died at home, with our Hospice nurses and Judith providing care.

"The support from the Hospice was above and beyond, more than I could ever have imagined, and full of care and understanding. I am so lucky to have had Nigel and I have such wonderful memories. You can’t stop these things from happening, but it’s my memories of Nigel that keep me going.”

stpetershospice.org/christmascards

Christmas on your Doorstep

We’ve been proudly local since 1981. So why go farther than the high street, or your living room, for Christmas gifts this year?

Shopping with us in-store, or online, is the perfect way to save money, and the planet, whilst giving back to the community and helping to provide much needed care.

Our high street shops, with their beautiful and distinctive window displays, are a festive delight, where you’ll find a host of brand new and pre-loved, sustainable items for all the family - so you can enjoy Christmas on your doorstep.

In our online Christmas shop and in-store you’ll find our exclusive and popular Bristol Christmas card range. Take a look, at stpetershospice.org/christmascards

Do you know someone that just loves shopping with us? Somebody infatuated with pre-loved, sustainable clothes and unique, brand new items? Then treat them to a St Peter’s Hospice Gift Card.

Our gift cards are available to purchase in all our high street stores. The perfect gift for the charity shop lover in your life. What’s more, our cards are made from fully recyclable paper, so don’t cost the Earth and won’t end up in landfill. Find out more at stpetershospice.org/ giftcards or ask at your local shop.

stpetershospice.org/donate

By now, everyone in Bristol is aware of how seriously our shops take dressing their windows, and in June, when they were set the challenge of creating eye catching designs for Bristol Pride, our retail teams went all out to bring a riot of colour to the high street.

As an added incentive, photographs of their creations were entered into the Charity Retail Consultancy’s ‘Pride Windows Competition’ a UK-wide competition, where prizes such as a visual merchandising course could be won. And win we did, with Stoke Lane taking third prize and Keynsham being awarded a special mention!

Thom Madine, manager of Stoke Lane, said: “We wanted to create something clean and impactful. The idea of the drapes was to make the windows look completely different, hanging them floor to ceiling and wall to wall. The fabric was sequined, so from the road it really sparkled and gave a celebratory feel for Pride. We were very surprised to have come third in the whole competition and were very pleased to spread the St Peter's Hospice message of inclusivity and make the public smile.”

Pride has an important place in the hearts and lives of many

of our staff and volunteers, as Helz HarmerTaylor, Portishead manager explained: “Pride is, quite rightly, a celebration of love and acceptance, but this year I wanted to highlight that there are still many struggles faced by the LGBTQ+ community, so I chose to educate about two of the Pride flags that are personal to me.”

Helz chose to dress their main window in the colours of the trans flag - a dedication to their transgender son - and the nonbinary flag - representing their feelings of gender non conformity. Their side window was dedicated to letting children know it’s ok to be who they are. The final window was used to make a simple statement of support, with hand dyed t-shirts literally ‘Dripping With Pride’.

“Working in a shop with three large windows gave me the opportunity to showcase what Pride means to me and to let the community know that St Peter’s Hospice will always be there for everybody.”

Fundraising Round-up

Toby's Bearathon

Eleven-year-old Toby Fletcher has raised over £22,000 for St Peter’s Hospice through his remarkable Bearathon Challenge, that began last autumn and saw him run 1km for every point conceded by the Bears. On 5 July he ran the final 10km of his epic 718km challenge from the Hospice in Brentry to Ashton Gate, where he received a huge welcome from his family, Hospice staff and Bristol Rugby Club.

Although hard at times, Toby has had fun along the way too. He ran with rugby

Craig Capel's Story

Craig Capel, Community Development Manager for Bristol Bears Community Foundation, works closely with the rugby club to deliver their community programmes across the region and provide support to some of the most disadvantaged members of the Bristol community.

Craig explains: "A lot of our members and community have engaged with St Peter’s Hospice on a personal level. My dad lost his battle with cancer a couple

legend Joe Joyce, was thanked for his efforts on The One Show by former Scottish International player Thom Evans, had exclusive access to the Bears changing room and ran around the pitch at half-time with thousands of fans cheering him on.

Now with the fundraising at an end, Toby says: "I'm excited about finishing my Bearathon, but also looking forward to the rest and watching Bristol without worrying about the score." We cannot thank Toby enough for all the hard work and dedication he has put into this incredible feat.

of years ago, and the level of support from the health care professionals, and everyone associated with the Hospice was unbelievable.

It went far beyond looking after my dadmy mum in particular, hugely appreciated the care provided both before and after his passing. By using the power and the value of the Bristol Bears brand, alongside the amazing support the club benefits from, we are very happy to be able to support St Peter’s Hospice in their fundraising efforts.”

New Vehicle for Patients and their Families

Grants from charitable Trusts and Foundations are key to keeping the Hospice and our services running. They help us to care for patients and their families, both in their own homes and at the Hospice. Each grant, no matter the size, means a great deal to us.

Thanks to generous funding received from The Morrisons Foundation and The Mark Master Masons of Bristol, we are now the proud owners of a brandnew response vehicle, assisting patients and family members in travelling to and from the Hospice. With an additional grant from The Hospital Saturday Fund, we have also purchased a new wheelchair, that provides extra comfort and fits perfectly inside the vehicle.

Marc Willetts, Hospice Volunteer Manager,

says: “Transport is difficult for a lot of our patients, as is parking. A mobility car is a very helpful thing to provide, and patients know that we’re looking after them with the same high standard of care that the Hospice provides. We can take up to six passengers, so we can help an entire family come to visit a patient. Today, we’ve been able to pickup a patient from Southmead Hospital when the taxi didn’t arrive. We are able to be flexible and respond to the patient’s needs, rather than relying on anyone else.”

Aylwyn Powell, who has been a volunteer driver for ten years, explains: “I’ve taken a lady for an x-ray today, accompanying her from the car to the department, and driven a man to his therapy session.”

By making transport available for patients and their loved ones, we are helping to make our vital St Peter’s Hospice services accessible for everyone in our community, which is essential to our Hospice ethos.

Leave a Gift in Your Will and Leave a Legacy of Love

We are hugely grateful to our wonderful and generous community who are supporting us in so many different ways.

Perhaps one of the easiest and most effective ways of supporting us is by leaving a gift in a Will. In fact, gifts in Wills make up a huge part of our income and pay for the care costs of one out of every four patients.

A gift of any amount, whether it’s a cash sum or a percentage of your estate, will help ensure we are here for families in the years ahead. It helps us plan for the future, knowing we can cover the costs of providing care for people and their loved ones during their most difficult moments.

The people who leave a gift in their Will are doing something truly extraordinary. Their generosity is ensuring outstanding end-of-life care for local people in the years and decades to come.

A gift in your Will is unlike any other kind of support, because the impact of it is only felt after you’ve gone. What a selfless and generous act.

Alison recently decided to include St Peter’s Hospice in her Will. She explains:

“Christine was the last of four of my friends who passed away in their 50s, all under the care of St Peter’s Hospice, but she was the closest to me. She died five days before Christmas and I miss her every day. With this in mind, when my husband and I changed our Wills, we picked a charity to each leave a gift to. I chose St Peter’s Hospice because the whole of our area benefits from the services offered. St Peter’s aims to improve the time we have left, however long that might be.”

Events Calendar

Visit the events section of our website to find out more.

OctoberWalk to Remember

October 23 - Join us at 10:30am for a 5km family walk in Ashton Court to share memories and remember loved ones.

DecemberLight Up a Life

December 4 - The Salvation Army Remembrance Service, Staple Hill December 5 - St Mary's Church Remembrance Service, Stoke Bishop

January - Christmas Tree Collection

January 6-7 - We will be collecting and recycling real Christmas trees again in January. Teams of volunteers and local companies will be out across the two days collecting trees, where they will then be chipped and reused at the Hospice gardens, and across allotment sites in Bristol.

March - Rugby March

This six-mile sponsored walk takes in the best of Bristol, before taking your seat for a thrilling live Bristol Bears game at Ashton Gate! Date to be announced!

December 10 - Christmas Carols at the Hospice. Join us from 4pm, when we will be hosting an event of remembrance and celebration with carols, music and mince pies!

April - Tour de Bristol

April 15 - Get on your bike for Bristol’s biggest bike ride, with three distances to choose from that head through the stunning Gloucestershire countryside.