Lockdown one year on: hospice continuing to care for people despite all the challenges
To mark one year since lockdown began a nurse at St Catherine’s Hospice has shared what the charity has learnt during the pandemic.
Linda Henson is an advanced nurse practitioner who works in the community supporting local families for the the hospice, which helps people in Horsham, Crawley and Mid Sussex.
She said things had been hard. “I don’t think I need to tell you about how difficult the daily challenges have been for the NHS and it’s no different for us at St Catherine’s.
“We’ve had to learn new technology to support new ways of working with our colleagues, including some who are shielding, adapt to a new phone system, and manage concerns about taking COVID to our families’ and our own safety.
We often worry about how long this is going to go on for, and how our resilience will cope with it all.
“We always want to do our very best for our community. So we also worry about whether we’re providing the same level of care for people who need us within all the COVID restrictions. But if you think things have felt bad for us during the pandemic, take a moment and think how terrifying and lonely it is for our patients.
“They’re often at home as they’re frail and elderly, their families are shielding to keep them safe, and many of them don’t have any human contact. They’re worried about going out and some of them are even frightened of us coming into their homes dressed in PPE.
“We’re finding our phone calls to people are becoming much longer because for some people we’re the first person they’ve heard from in quite some time, and they’re just so glad to hear a human voice.
“But despite these challenges, we’re local people’s link to support and a link to their families for support. And that’s really important.
“It’s thanks to you that we’re on the end of a phone and out there supporting people in our community when it’s needed most. It’s thanks to you someone has some human interaction, and someone to tell them everything will be alright.
“It’s a wonderful thing knowing so many of you continue to have our backs through these really challenging times.”
Linda said charities had suffered from a loss of funds during the pandemic, and St Catherine’s needed continued support from the community so it could continue with its vital work.
“To all our hospice supporters, I want to give you a very warm thank you,” she added.
“Because without you none of this work would be able to go on. I can’t tell you how much we value your support, and I ask you to continue to support us, because COVID will pass and we will come out of this.
“My hope is we will come out of it stronger and we will all live life more fully, and certainly more appreciated.”
To find out more about the work of St Catherine’s visit www.stch.org.uk or to make a donation to support your local hospice visit: www.stch.org.uk/donate or call 01293 447361.