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News

Matt Le Tissier delights Oakhaven Patient

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Matt Le Tissier and lifelong Saints supporter Brian

Matt Le Tissier delights Oakhaven Patient

Footballing legend Matt Le Tissier recently visited an Oakhaven Patient, helping to make a special moment for a lifelong supporter of Southampton Football Club.

Earlier this month, Saints supporter, Brian, was ‘over the moon’ when he received a visit from his footballing hero, Matt Le Tissier.

Brian, an Oakhaven patient receiving care and support in his own home in Dibden Purlieu and weekly at Oakhaven’s Day Hospice in Lymington, also enjoys regular visits from Paul, an Oakhaven Neighbours volunteer.

Paul said; “Brian is a lifelong Saints supporter and Matt Le Tissier is his hero. I wrote to Matt asking if he could visit and almost immediately he replied saying that he would be delighted. Matt spent an hour and a half visiting Brian. They chatted for a long time about the old players at Southampton Football Club. To coin a football phrase Brian was ‘over the moon’ and looks forward to telling everyone about the visit at his next visit to the Oakhaven Day Hospice.”

Matt Le Tissier said to Paul on being thanked for his visit; “It was my pleasure and keep up the great work you’re doing too, I’m sure Brian appreciates your weekly visit as much as mine. Up the Saints!” 

Brian said; "As a lifelong Saints Supporter to see Matt Le Tissier, my Saints hero, walk through my door was a massive surprise! A huge thank you to my Oakhaven Neighbour, Paul, for taking the time to create this special moment for me and to Matt for spending so much time, sharing memories, with me”.

Oakhaven Hospice provides specialist care and support for patients with life-limiting illnesses, at the hospice and in homes throughout the New Forest, Totton and Waterside communities, free of charge.

The demand for the care and support provided by Oakhaven is increasing each year. Last year, Oakhaven Hospice cared for 1,400 patients, both in the hospice and in homes throughout the New Forest, Totton and Waterside, free of charge. In addition, over 4,300 people navigating bereavement or a life-limiting illness received support through Oakhaven’s Coates Centre.

Yet only 11% of the hospice’s funding is covered by the government - the remaining 89% must be raised via donations, gifts in Wills, fundraising, the charity’s shops and the social enterprise Oakhaven Care Ltd.

Earlier this year Oakhaven launched ‘Moment Makers’, a programme focused on monthly donations that will directly support patients and their families. Moment Makers enables you to become part of a cherished community making a big difference, safeguarding compassionate end-of-life care so that it remains accessible to all who need it.

Find out more about Moment Makers

Over and above the clinical support provided by Oakhaven, ’Oakhaven Neighbours’ volunteers offer companionship and a helping hand at home to Oakhaven patients, assisting with everyday tasks that can become overwhelming when living with a life-limiting illness.

Find out more about becoming an Oakhaven volunteer

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Discover Complementary Therapy with Oakhaven

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Discover complementary therapy at Oakhaven

Discover Complementary Therapy with Oakhaven

Oakhaven Hospice’s qualified and experienced Complementary Therapists provide a range of treatments including aromatherapy, massage, reflexology, reiki and Indian head massage.

Complementary therapy treatments can assist with easing emotional and physical symptoms; reducing stress and tension; easing aches and pains; lifting mood; reducing anxiety; improving sleep; and coping with some side effects of medical treatments.

A course of treatments is often tailored for Oakhaven patients, free of charge. Complementary therapy treatments are also available at Oakhaven for others living in the New Forest, Totton and Waterside communities, who are navigating bereavement, caring for a loved one or living with a life-limiting illness. Treatments are available at just £35 per session, with concessions available for those on benefits.

Coinciding with the National Complementary Therapy Awareness Week (20th-26th March), Discover Complementary Therapy is a free-of-charge open afternoon providing the opportunity to find out more about the benefits of complementary therapies. Chat with the Oakhaven therapy team and enjoy taster treatments.

If you are a qualified Complementary Therapist and would like to find out about volunteering a little of your time at Oakhaven, or if you would like to find out about Oakhaven’s bespoke training for Relaxation Volunteers, please do come along to the open afternoon, or get in touch with the team by email at comptherapy@oakhavenhospice.co.uk or call 01590 670346.

Find out more about Complementary Therapy at Oakhaven

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Ten years of Oakhaven Care Ltd

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Oakhaven Care Assistants with client on a bench in the garden

Ten years of Oakhaven Care Ltd!

Established just over ten years ago as a social enterprise and wholly owned subsidiary of The Oakhaven Trust, Oakhaven Care Ltd now provides 24-hour ‘live-in’ care in addition to ‘visiting’ home care - and each year contributes to the funding of Oakhaven Hospice.

Oakhaven Care Ltd was born out of the desire to create a care agency for the wider community that would have the same consistently high-quality standards of care as Oakhaven Hospice. At the same time, to provide income to help fund the specialist palliative and end-of-life care at Oakhaven Hospice.

The idea, to run home care as a social enterprise and wholly-owned subsidiary of The Oakhaven Trust, was innovative and unique. A decade on, Oakhaven Care Ltd remains the only home care organisation in the area that funnels all its profits into a local charity rather than into the pockets of investors!

Live-in care and visiting care

Today, Oakhaven Care Ltd provides 24-hour live-in care in addition to visiting care (which can range from 30-minute ‘drop-ins’ to multiple daily visits). Care is tailored to the needs and wishes of each client, helping them to remain independent with companionship and support in the comfort of their own home.

Oakhaven Care Assistant Jade helping Mary

Oakhaven Care Assistants can provide help with daily life including personal care; support with medication, nutrition and fluids; help with getting up and going to bed; light domestic duties; and outings to appointments, shops and social activities.

Live-in care provides full-time support, companionship - and reassurance for loved ones. It can be an excellent alternative to having to move into a residential care home, providing more independence and choice, in familiar surroundings.

A look back at Oakhaven Care's first decade!

Becky Prince has worked with Oakhaven Care for nine out of its ten years. Starting as a Care Assistant, she is now a Manager, based in Lymington.

“Oakhaven Care started small to embed a very high standard of care, grew quickly and was able to move to a model that included permanent contracts. All of the carers attended a specially designed training programme before working with clients and, importantly, we were one of the first agencies to pay carers for travel time.

"It is great to see how the business has grown over the years. We now have over fifty carers and an office in Totton as well as the one in Lymington. In addition to visiting care, we also now offer 24-hour live-in care for clients. And, because we select each live-in care assistant to suit each client, our live-in care extends well beyond the local area.

"In addition to private home care, we also now work in partnership with Hampshire County Council and NHS England ‘Continuing Health Care’ (CHC) patients, enabling them to receive care in their own homes. Sometimes we have to provide care packages within 24 hours and although this can be tricky, we always go the extra mile to ensure it can be achieved.

Two Oakhaven Care Assistants with Mary enjoying conversation in the garden

Our team is fantastic. Right from the start, Oakhaven Care has felt like a family. Every single Care Assistant loves what they do - we all passionately believe that caring is a calling, not just a job, and I think that shines through in the high-quality care and companionship that all our clients receive. Attention to detail is everything and we all recognise that sometimes it is the smallest things that can make the biggest difference.

Oakhaven Care looks after its team. I’m not the only one who’s been here for years! We very much believe in developing our people and looking out for each other. There is a lot of understanding and mutual respect. It is a great company to work for, with an excellent atmosphere and a fantastic ethos.

All of the office staff have previously worked as carers, so we fully understand the life of a carer and the challenges it can bring - and, importantly, we can go out and help out at the drop of a hat, whenever required. Our ‘Out of Hours’ contact number continues to be manned by members of our office team, who apply their extensive knowledge to help our carers and clients around the clock.

We provide extensive training for all our Care Assistants, enabling them to develop their qualifications and continually update their knowledge. This is helped enormously by our links with the Learning and Research team at Oakhaven Hospice.

Above all, Oakhaven Care’s strong link with Oakhaven Hospice means so much to all of us. Carers and clients alike, we are all proud of the fact that we support Oakhaven Hospice.”

Erica Longyear said; “I have been Managing Director of Oakhaven Care for nearly five years, from the moment I first started I knew we were different. We support clients with high-quality care and also have a family feel within our staff team by being a great employer. We are very passionate about helping clients to remain living in the comfort of their own homes. We also love that alongside caring for our clients we raise money for Oakhaven Hospice.”

Oakhaven Care Assistants helping to lift a client

On receiving respite care from Oakhaven Care Ltd, one client said; “Thank you so much for all the help that you gave me to regain my confidence. I’m doing well now but I know where you are if I need you again!”

Another Oakhaven Care client reflected; “Thank you for all the care, compassion and support you have provided me and my husband over the last two years. Your commitment and patience, sometimes in challenging situations, enabled my husband to stay living at home with me for so much longer than would otherwise have been possible. This extra time living together as husband and wife has been tremendously important to us both and has enabled us to share more memories together.”

A family member of an Oakhaven Care client said; “I will always remember how you cared for Mum with friendship, laughter and dignity. I am deeply grateful to you all.”

To find out more about Oakhaven Care Ltd services and careers, please visit www.oakhavencare.co.uk, email info@oakhavencare.co.uk or contact the team for a chat on 01590 646440 (Lymington office) or 02381 800 505 (Totton office).

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Priestlands School year 7 children raise £1,219

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Priestlands School Headteacher with year 7 fundraisers holding cheque to Oakhaven

Fabulous fundraisers at Priestlands School raise £1,219

Throughout this year Priestlands School is raising funds for Oakhaven Hospice. The children in Year 7 recently kickstarted the fundraising efforts, with their charity day raising a fabulous £1,219!

Of particular note, school friends Daisy and Ellie have done some incredible fundraising for Oakhaven Hospice. As part of their Year 7 charity day, the girls decided to challenge themselves to raise as much money as they could individually, alongside the school fundraising activities.

Oakhaven Hospice is a cause the girls hold dear, having attended Oakhaven’s Acorn Project, and knowing friends and family who have been helped by the hospice.

Keen runner Daisy pushed herself to run 5k along the Lymington seawall, supported in her training by Ellie, sister Jasmine, Mum, Dad and her dog, Willow. On the day she ran the distance in only 30 minutes!

As well as raising funds from friends and family, Daisy received sponsorship from several local businesses, including LSB Electrical, Bailey Building, Top Level Scaffold, The Plough Inn and Ray's Italian, taking her total to a brilliant £500.

Ellie has also undertaken her own silent fundraising for Oakhaven Hospice, raising £170 through a sponsored silence, apparently no mean feat!

The Year 7 charity day in school raised £549.12 through a variety of activities, cake and book sales, soak the teacher and a ‘teachers vs children’ dodgeball tournament.

£2,216 raised so far by Priestlands School

Students and teachers also raised £997 for Oakhaven last term with a Christmas Jumper Day, taking the total raised by Priestlands for Oakhaven so far this academic year to a superb £2,216.12, with the other year groups still to hold their charity days over the months to come.

Hannah Davies, Community Fundraiser at Oakhaven, said, “Many thanks to Daisy, Ellie and everyone at Priestlands for fundraising for Oakhaven. With only a small proportion of Oakhaven Hospice's costs funded by government sources, every donation makes a difference, enabling Oakhaven to continue providing exceptional care, comfort and support to patients facing end of life and their loved ones, both within the Hospice itself and out in the New Forest, Totton and Waterside community.”

As well as the ten beds in the Inpatient Unit, Oakhaven helps patients with life-limiting illnesses in their own homes - currently over 350 at any time - as well as providing wellbeing support at the Coates Centre. Last year Oakhaven cared for 1,394 patients and their families and loved ones, with around 3,200 visiting the Coates Centre to benefit from wellbeing support.

For information about how you could fundraise for Oakhaven Hospice, please visit oakhavenhospice.co.uk/help-us-fundraise.

 

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Ozzie Cycles the World in memory of beloved daughter

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Noel Osborne cycling the distance around the world in memory of daughter Jo Rivron.

Ozzie's Cycle Around the World Challenge

Noel 'Ozzie' Osborne has challenged himself to cycle 24,901 miles, the distance around the world, in memory of his beloved daughter Jo Rivron (née Osborne) and to support Oakhaven Hospice and the Piam Brown Children’s Cancer Unit at Southampton General Hospital.

"In early 2015 our daughter Joanna was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer. She passed away in March 2022 after her long battle, at the age of 40, leaving behind her husband Christian, and two daughters Matilda (12) and Amelie (9).

Several charities helped Jo and her family deal with their journey, but the most important for Jo was Oakhaven Hospice in Lymington. She spent most of her last 3 months, including her last days there. She even referred to Oakhaven as ‘home’ when it was time to go back after spending her last Christmas at home with us. We cannot thank the staff and volunteers enough for the care and support they gave to Jo and also to Christian and the girls.

In the summer of 2020, in the midst of the pandemic, and just days before her 11th birthday, Jo’s daughter Matilda was diagnosed with leukemia and started a two and a half year treatment plan under the care of the Piam Brown Children’s Cancer Unit at the Southampton General Hospital.

The care they gave her was fantastic, she is now doing well, and her life is back on track. Many of the support facilities for the children and parents are made available through the Piam Brown charity. There were days and weeks when both Jo and Matilda (with Dad) were in hospital being treated for cancer, or fighting infections or side effects brought on by the chemotherapy. All of this with COVID restrictions and lockdowns in place. The support given by the team at the Piam Brown Ward helped the family through some very difficult times.

So what is this challenge all about?

At the start of the first lockdown in March 2020, I started cycling every day around the New Forest. It was a good way to keep busy every morning and a great distraction during Covid.

After passing 5000 miles, I turned my daily cycling into the ‘Trinidad Challenge’, which was 8,700 miles, the equivalent of going to Trinidad (where my parents were born) and back, in about 15 months. We raised over £30k for charities that had supported Jo and her family, including the two named here, and we thank everyone for their generous contributions

Noel 'Ozzie' Osborne's cycling cycling challenge

Around the World

Then I kept on cycling, and when I reached about 15,000 miles, I set myself the new challenge of ‘Around the World’ (24,901 miles around the equator) in 4 years, cycling every day, rain or shine, with a weekly target of around 120 miles, averaging 500 miles a month.

I am cycling every day, when home, without a break, because those dealing with cancer or other debilitating diseases don’t get the option to take a day off, so why should I? Also, cycling every day has provided a huge distraction to help deal with the reality of a life without Jo, but now it’s time to move forward, and I now need to swap many of those lonely hours on my bike, for more time with my family and friends. It’s been nearly four years, with many cold, wet winter rides, including one in a thunderstorm!

Now I am getting close to the goal with over 24,000 miles behind me, one broken bike frame, and with the finish line in sight in late March, I would like to invite you to support me, if you can, in raising funds for our charitable causes.

Noel Osborne on his bicycle

Help us to ‘pay it forward’ to two incredible charities that provided so much support for Jo and Matilda, and will continue to do so for so many other individuals, families, and in particular children, in our area."

Click here to visit Noel's 'Ozzie Cycles the World' Justgiving fundraising page supporting Oakhaven Hospice and the Piam Brown Children's Cancer Unit at Southampton General Hospital.

https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/ozziecyclestheworld

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Local holiday park raises over £6,000 for Oakhaven Hospice

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Hoburne Bashley Holiday Park presenting cheque of funds raised to Oakhaven Hospice

Local holiday park raises over £6,000 for Oakhaven Hospice

Hoburne Bashley holiday park in the New Forest chose Oakhaven Hospice as its nominated charity for 2023 and raised an incredible £6,050.

The team at Hoburne Bashley enlisted staff, holidaymakers and owners to get involved in a number of fundraising events across the year to help raise vital funds to support those with a life-limiting illness across the New Forest, Totton and Waterside.

£14,000 raised by Hoburne Bashley since 2004

This isn’t the first time that Hoburne Bashley has supported Oakhaven Hospice and its fundraising efforts in 2023 take the total raised by the park since 2004 to £14,000.

Samantha Dewar, Customer Experience Manager at Hoburne Bashley, said: “We were thrilled to be able to support Oakhaven as our selected charity throughout 2023. With deep personal meaning for many on our team, we take great pride in contributing to a cause that holds a special place in our hearts."

Natalie Hutchins, Corporate Fundraising Manager at Oakhaven Hospice, said: “We are delighted that Hoburne Bashley chose us as its nominated charity in 2023 and it was a pleasure to work in partnership with them. Every penny the park has raised will help Oakhaven to make every moment matter for patients and their loved ones throughout the New Forest, Totton and Waterside communities.”

Funds raised will help local people and their families

Oakhaven Hospice provides palliative end-of-life care for patients, and support for their families, free of charge. Last year the cost of running Oakhaven was £8 million, of which only 11% is covered by NHS statutory income. Approximately 89% of the Hospice’s running costs are covered by the generosity of the community through fundraising, donations and gifts in Wills, as well as the charity’s retail shops and social enterprise Oakhaven Care Ltd.

There are many ways in which businesses can work in partnership with Oakhaven, including event sponsorship, organising fundraising events, taking part in the £100 challenge, attending Oakhaven networking events, organising an Oakhaven team building day and becoming a corporate partner.

To find out more about how your business can get involved, call the Oakhaven fundraising team on 01590 677773 or email fundraising@oakhavenhospice.co.uk.