Hospice service continues to evolve
MANY people still think of Hospice as a building, a place to go, or worse, a place you go to die. While this is the case for some, most individuals the hospice team care for never need to stay at hospice.
While the hospice facility is a huge help for those in need of complex care or respite, most often symptoms are managed in the patients home, thanks to hospices ability to deliver care wherever the patient lives.
The car has become as important to the team as the building in this regard.
Caring for patients and supporting the family at home usually involves several of the team over the course of care provided by Hospice.
This includes Hospice Nurses, spiritual support, grief counsellors, social worker and a wide variety of complementary therapies.
All this is coordinated with others providing care such as the patients GP, District Nursing or home care providers.
Care in the community has been a feature of Hospice for many years now.
With over 85% of patients wanting to be cared for by their family at home at end-oflife, this is an important aspect of delivering the highest possible care for patients faced with a terminal diagnosis.
Over the past two years Hospice has also developed new roles for our Palliative Care Nurse Specialists to work in support for Aged Residential Care facilities.
Our Nurses, Lisa Henderson and Sherwyn Parmenter provide specialist nursing support to Nurses and carers working in the Aged Residential Care facilities’ right throughout Southland.
Lisa and Sherwyn are also joined by our Medical Specialist, Dr Amanda Sommerfeldt who regularly provides consultant reviews for residents with palliative needs.
Working together with fellow health professionals in the residential facilities, hospice aims to secure the best possible care for loved ones in need.
This extension of Hospice coverage to include these roles was thanks to the generosity of local funders Community Trust of Southland and the ILT Foundation who in 2015 supported Hospice to establish these new roles for the first 12 months.
Hospice has since secured Ministry funding for these roles for a further three years and are working to extend this beyond 2019.
Hospice believes that by collaborating with others passionate about ensuring the very best care it’s not difficult to justify the investment the Ministry makes.
Andrew Leys, CEO of Hospice said ‘‘One of the rewarding aspect to working at Hospice is the genuine belief by everyone right across our community that people deserve the very best end-of-life care.
Hospice has been fortunate to have been able to maintain excellent community support over the past 25 years.
This has put us in a great position to help not just our patients but all who are involved in caring for those in our community with palliative needs.
Our aim is to ensure everyone in Southland and the Wakatipu Basin has access to the very best palliative care.’’
‘‘One of the rewarding aspect to working at Hospice is the genuine belief by everyone right across our community that people deserve the very best end-of-life care.’’ — Hospice CEO Andrew Leys.