30th Anniversary Celebration Appeal
Could you help Oakhaven over the next 30 years?
This year, Oakhaven Hospice, your local hospice charity, celebrates three decades of care for our community. As we emerge from the most difficult time in our history, we now look optimistically to the future – and the next 30 years of Oakhaven’s care.
Today, we ask for your help with the first steps of this journey to delivering better care for more patients and their families; please join our anniversary celebrations.
It’s almost exactly two years since we all went into that first lockdown; though it seems a lot longer than that! At the hospice, we’ve managed to come through the pandemic intact – and we are so proud of the care we’ve continued to provide, both within the in-patient unit and out in patient homes, despite all the challenges and restrictions.
The Oakhaven team has shown the immense value our charity brings to our local community - and we believe we now have a unique opportunity to come out of COVID offering a new, higher level of care.
We simply must take this chance to emerge from the pandemic with a stronger, more complete hospice service for our community. This month we are reaching out to everyone in our community, asking for their help. Your support will enable us to be here for you and your loved ones for the next 30 years.
Thank you, from us all, for any contribution you feel able to make.
There are three big ways in which you could help Oakhaven...
More nursing staff
We need to recruit more nurses to cope with the much larger number of people coming to us for hospice care and support. Many local people may have missed a diagnosis or put off having that test in the hospital. As a result, many more are now belatedly receiving bad news – and they’re turning to us for help. If we’re going to continue to support everyone who needs us, we will need more trained staff. We’re looking to recruit new full-time and part-time nurses this summer, each able to take on a new caseload of patients.
A donation of £22 could help to fund some of this expert, compassionate care for someone in Totton, Waterside or the New Forest.
Technology for new nurses
We need to retain and grow the technology that has become such a key part of how our nurses communicate with patients and carers. Many of the patients have told me they don’t need me to see nurses in person every time. A friendly chat on a screen and a quick check on how they’re feeling are all they need. This means we can give better care to more people – and we can devote more time to those who really need me there.
Our new nurses will need computers and devices – and we must find the money for that ourselves. For example, a new laptop (for video calls and patient notes) could cost us £1,698 – could you please help us to buy one of these?
A new coordination centre
We would like to create a new local coordination centre for all end-of-life care across the New Forest, Waterside and Totton – hosted and run by Oakhaven Hospice. This new centre will offer a single point of contact for patients, families and health professionals – with one phone number, staffed 24 hours a day by trained Oakhaven staff, every day of the year. Patients will only have to explain their situation once and we’ll then be able to coordinate the care they receive from us, their local GP and other services. This will dramatically improve care for all – but we need to cover the cost of the new helpline.
We’ll have to find approximately £266.84 to deliver each 24 hours of specialist helpline care – could you help us to open that new service?
‘Oakhaven are my lifeline’
When I was twenty-one I left the UK and emigrated to Australia. Two years ‘down under’ ended up becoming fifty happy years living in Sydney. My husband died in 2012 and in 2015 I came to the UK to spend Christmas with my daughter who lives in Lymington. I loved the town and (much to the surprise of my Sydney friends) I bought an apartment here in the centre of Lymington where I have now spent six wonderful years.
I had been diagnosed with a terminal lung disease and 18 months ago, my specialist referred me to Oakhaven Hospice for symptom management. I thought I would have no choice but to die at the hospice. I knew I didn’t want that. I wanted to stay at home where I am comfortable and peaceful. I was so happy and relieved when the nurses at the hospice told me they would actually help support me to die here, in my home, surrounded by my family. It’s my last wish and Oakhaven are making it a reality.
Facing one’s own mortality is rather daunting but Oakhaven have been so caring and helpful and have offered me end-of-life counselling. It’s been so valuable – I’ve now come to accept death as a natural continuation of life. We ALL have to come to it! The sessions have really helped me gain inner strength and have made this whole journey so much easier.
As each day passes, I struggle more and more with my breathing, but the Oakhaven team manage to ease my symptoms in order to keep me as active as possible. All the staff at the hospice, including my nurse, Anita, have been incredible. I know that I can turn to Anita and she’ll always be there to comfort and chat through my worries. Having someone like that, a nurse and a friend, is very special. They have also welcomed me into the hospice for complementary therapy treatments – their foot massages are a dream.
When I first moved to Lymington, I didn’t realise that Oakhaven was a charity. But it soon became very apparent. The hospice is a beloved local institution – and it seems the whole community is doing something to support it and, I have become involved too.
For the last few years, I’ve taken part in the Christmas Santa Dash - even last year in my wheelchair and my oxygen tank and with my daughter pushing me. I’m going to continue to support the hospice for as long as I possibly can – they really have been a lifeline. I hope you will continue donating to Oakhaven today. Someone you know may need them in years to come – and I can only hope that the care and attention they will receive will be as marvellous as that which they have shown me.
With thanks and best wishes, Sinead
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