Peace On Earth
Jo’s work in palliative care takes on an extra special significance at this emotional time of year
Touching story
Jo Fernandes is a sister on the In-patient Care Unit at the Hospice of St Francis, which cares for people living with life-limiting illness in West Hertfordshire and South Buckinghamshire, and provides support for their loved ones.
The charity supports more than 2,000 people every year through its inpatient unit, its Spring Centre health and wellbeing hub and its community-based care.
“We take a multidisciplinary approach to enhance the quality of our patients’ lives,” explains Jo. “Our experienced nursing staff work alongside a team of doctors and allied health professionals, including social workers, a chaplain and complementary therapists.
“We take great care to establish the best way to support each patient as an individual. We can’t take away the sadness, and dying has to be acknowledged as an inevitability but, within
“Celebrating together for the last time can be an immensely happy occasion”
that context, we do our absolute best to accommodate how they want th this inevitability to be. “As pain-free, as pe peaceful as possible, su surrounded by their fa family, with their Pe Pekinese on the bed if th that’s what they want – that is key to what we d do here. “We make C Christmas, if people w want it, as full of Santa C Claus and the birth of C Christ as they wish. W We have Christmas l lunch here which the patients, staff and as many relatives as the patients want are welcome to join in with. Wine, champagne, presents, anything. It can be an immensely happy occasion for our patients to celebrate together for the last time.
“Our hospice is beautifully decorated, starting when the lights go up for a lovely ceremony called Light Up a Life where relatives who have lost loved ones are invited to come and celebrate and remember them here.
“Christmas is a season for us, as opposed to one day. We once had a patient who was clearly not going to be with us by December 25 and that was a source of sadness to them and their family. So Christmas Day came early for that family!
“We celebrated it in November. The tree went up, presents were shared amongst the family, we had all the trimmings and everything they wanted.
“But while some people may want the whole jingle bells experience, for others it may be a bit too difficult for them. A few years ago a school chamber choir visited us to sing some Christmas
carols. One lady was really looking forward to it and I spent quite a while getting her ready before we pushed her out in her bed ready to hear them.
“The main chorister began singing Once in Royal David’s City and after the first line the lady turned to me and she said, ‘Jo, that’s enough, actually I don’t want to hear any more.’
“Back in her bedroom, she told me that little bit was all she needed to hear. It was a very profound and beautiful moment, but it was enough.
“We have an amazing bereavement team who are here to support children and adolescents to come to terms both prior to the death of a loved one and following it. We hold a really lovely Christmas party and this year I’ll be bringing one of my ponies up to join in with it.
“The ponies are regular visitors here and come up to the hospice for our Pony Days once a month throughout the spring and summer.
“The children enjoy a lovely walk on a very cute pony, which gives them a good experience in the same place that an enormously difficult experience has
“We have clinical expertise, but the job is also about being very human”
happened. That in itself can be the magic, that can be the therapy. At Christmas that little pony they have ridden will become Santa’s helper, delivering sacks of presents for them.
“I am really passionate about what I do and I am very proud to work in palliative care. I don’t think you need to be a special person to do my job but what I think you do need to be is an authentic human being, motivated by a deep sense of compassion and doing what is right.
“It is both a science and an art; we have the clinical expertise but it is also about being very human, about being a kind, compassionate professional.
“Death and dying is indiscriminate. I don’t have any answers to that and I will never have. It is a very sad aspect of our job, but actually the support that we give each other is enormous and it is an extraordinary experience to bear witness to people at the end of their life – and also to their courage.
“There is just something about the aesthetic of The Hospice of St Francis – it is beautiful. And actually, it is not only the most supportive place I have ever worked but it is also the happiest, too.” ✦ For more information go to WWW.STFRANCIS.ORG.UK or ☎ 01442 869550