Category: Hospice News

The Death Café movement aims to increase awareness of death and encourage open and honest conversations in a bid to break social taboos

St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice has today announced that they will be hosting four Death Cafés at The Angel Coffee House on Free School Lane in Lincoln.

The first of the four events will be held on Sunday 5th February, from 3pm – 5pm, where members of the public can gather to eat cake, drink tea and discuss death.

Lisa Gibson, Community Development Manager at St Barnabas Hospice, said:

“Last year we held our first ever Death Café and we were delighted to receive extremely positive feedback from those who attended. We have decided to make Death Cafe a permanent feature in our hospice calendar as stimulating conversations about death and dying is an important subject.

“Talking about death, dying and bereavement is a subject that many people can find challenging. In many ways, it has become a modern taboo with people desperately avoiding their own mortality.

“What we are hoping to do is help to change social attitudes towards death and dying and provide a safe haven where talking about death is encouraged.

“It is our view that having open and honest conversations will mean that we are all better equipped to support each other when death has an impact on our lives.”

A Death Café is a group directed discussion about death with no agenda, objectives or themes. It is a discussion group rather than a grief support or counselling session.

Lisa said:

“Last year 38 people gathered in small groups to have open discussions about a wide range of subjects including will writing, coping with bereavement and how to talk to family about dying.

“Death Café had a real buzz and it was wonderful to hear the many life affirming conversations taking place. Alongside the serious topics being discussed, there was also a lot of laughter and guests left the event feeling very uplifted.

“People fed back to us that they enjoyed having an environment where they were encouraged to discuss topics that they might otherwise avoid and where they were made to feel welcome.”

The Death Café movement was started by Jon Underwood in London in 2011 and since then thousands of Death Cafes have been held across Europe, North America, and Australasia.

Lisa concludes: “It is our view that having open and honest conversations will mean that we are all better equipped to support each other when death has an impact on our lives.

“Death Café really isn’t as morbid as it may sound and its premise is to provide an environment where the important topic of death can be broached without judgement.

“Death can bring up many questions, opinions and feelings and with this in mind our professional counsellors will be in attendance to provide additional support or help if anyone should need it.”

Death café is also planned for Sunday 14th May, Sunday 6th August and Sunday 19th November.

For more information about Death Café or to reserve your seat at the table contact 01522 559 504 or email marketing@stbarnabashospice.co.uk or sign up to the event at www.facebook.com/events/2206018666290637/

Photography courtesy of Stuart Wilde

St Barnabas Hospice brings back popular Colour Dash for third consecutive year

St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice have announced that their Colour Dash will be returning to the Lincolnshire Showground on Saturday 13th May 2017.

This year 3,500 people were showered in environmentally friendly powder paint and together raised more than £120,000 for local hospice care.

Becky Otter, Event Manager for St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice, said:

“We are delighted to announce after the huge success of last year’s Colour Dash, the fun-filled event is back. The Colour Dash is proving to be our most popular event and has sold out in the two previous years.

“Colour Dash is all about wearing your biggest smile, raising money and having fun with your friends and family. You can run, walk, or dance the 5k route and when you cross the finish line you will be showered in all the colours of the rainbow!”

The Colour Dash is a 5k route lined with paint stations which will see runners splattered in paint at every kilometre. To take part, participants must be aged five years old and over, and anyone aged 16 and under must be accompanied by a paying adult.

Becky said: “This year we are hoping to raise in excess of £200,000 to help St Barnabas care for more patients and their families, every day of the year. The Colour Dash is a bright and vibrant event that brings the whole family together, whether they run in memory of a loved one or just to have fun.”

Registration will open from 1st December 2016, where adults can take advantage of the early bird price of just £15 and £5 for children. Participants can also buy an early bird family ticket (two adults and two children) for just £35. The early bird price is valid until 1st March 2017.

The registration fee includes your fundraising pack, neon sunglasses, bottle of water, poncho and a commemorative medal.

The headline sponsors for Colour Dash is Western Power Distribution and Running Imp. To sponsor a colour station contact Becky Otter on 01522 559 516 or email becky.otter@stbarnabashospice.co.uk

To register go to: www.stbarnabashospice.co.uk/cd17

St Barnabas Hospice encourages school children to talk openly about dying, death and bereavement with theatre performance

Last month, over 280 school children from the Boston area attended the theatre performance ‘Thrive.

St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice partnered Zest, a Lincoln based theatre company, to bring their latest performance to The Gliderdrome in Boston.

Thrive followed the journey of three young people whose lives were turned upside down by the sudden death of a friend. The audience were invited to join them as they worked through their pain, remembered the good (and bad) times, and ultimately grow from their experience.

Lisa Gibson, Community Development Manager for St Barnabas Hospice, said:

“Thrive is a bold piece of new writing that has been created especially for young people and explores how we can find hope in the face of adversity. This piece of theatre breaks the usual narrative to bring the audience into the performance for an immersive experience.”

Their performance at Boston was part of a national tour which will run from October 2016 until March 2017.

Lisa continued: “This performance is a wonderful way to get conversations started about dying, death and bereavement. These conversations aren’t always easy, but they could be the most important conversations you will ever have. In many ways, death and dying has become a modern day taboo with people actively avoiding their own mortality.

“A fundamental change in society to accept death as a part of the lifecycle will mean that when death does have an impact on our lives we will be better equipped to support each other.

“Open and honest conversations will also mean that more people are able to access the care and support they need, make the most of the time they have and have their end of life wishes met.”

St Barnabas Hospice held workshops within the schools following the performance in order to work through the subjects of dying, death and bereavement that were addressed within the performance.

Lisa said: “The feedback was fantastic with young people seeing theatre in a whole new way. The messages were powerful and people were clearly moved by the performance.

“In one of the performances where the character Raph became very upset two pupils ran onto the centre stage and gave him a hug, in another scene a party really came to life as pupils joined in the dancing.

“This is how immersive theatre works and it was great to see students really getting involved. For others their participation was quieter and more reflective which was incredibly heart-warming.”

Lincs Independent Living Partnership (LILP) has published its first Annual Review which highlights how this consortium of local charitable organisations is helping to solve what is very much a 21st century challenge: how to keep Lincolnshire’s ageing population safe and well and prevent accident, illness and admission to hospitals and institutional care.

LILP currently delivers two services – the Wellbeing Service* and Hospital Avoidance Response Team (HART)** – which help local people facing illness, disability and the effects of advancing age to live safely, healthily and independently at home.

Wellbeing Service assessors and caseworkers visit people in the comfort of their own homes to help identify and address any problems which are affecting or might affect health and wellbeing – for example, mobility around the home, financial problems, social isolation and/or transport. The Service includes Home Safe, a supported hospital discharge and resettling service.

The award-winning Wellbeing Service is proving its worth in terms of helping people to regain and retain independence and relieving pressure on the public sector. The Annual Review reports that in the Service’s second year of operation:

• 98% of customers (where available) were assessed at home within just seven days of referral;

• 94% of customers were very satisfied or satisfied with the service;

• 80% of customers met planned outcomes;

Whilst the preventive impact of the Wellbeing Service is difficult to quantify, an independent evaluation of the Service’s first year reports that if 5% of clients avoid one hospital stay and are able to remain in their own home for one extra year, rather than in residential care, the savings would be more than £6,000,000.

HART provides up to 72 hours’ support at home, where hospital admission is deemed inappropriate or after hospital discharge, when responsive or planned care can either bridge a gap until longer-term arrangements are established, or provide short-term support to sustain independence.

As the Annual Review indicates, the impact of HART in the first three months of operation alone has been equally impressive. From December 2015 – March 2016, HART provided a total 467 days’ support, which represents a bed-day cost saving of £170,455 (based on the cost of a bed per day at Lincoln County Hospital of £365).

LILP is very keen to broadcast its achievements via the Annual Review, as it believes that there remains vast potential for the consortium to work alongside the public sector to develop services, so that it can help even more people to maintain independent lives whilst saving even more public funds.

Read LILP Annual Review.

Eight hospices from across the East Midlands have joined forces to create a hard-hitting animation entitled ‘The Elephant in the Room’ addressing head-on the subject of dying and aimed at raising awareness of hospice care within local communities.

The 90 second animation features a character who is told he is dying and his fears and worries become his own ‘Elephant in the Room’. The character and his elephant follow a journey through difficulties and challenges to then understand and receive hospice care and support.

The East Midlands Hospice Group have been working together for over a year and will be featuring the Elephant in the Room across their social media channels and websites during national Hospice Care Week (3-9 October).

The group includes St Barnabas Hospice in Lincolnshire which provides care and support for adults and their families across the county.

Chris Wheway, chief executive of St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice, explained the importance of the project:

“It’s hard to imagine the complex emotions that a person experiences when they find out they are terminally ill. It can be hard to hear and even harder to talk about and can quickly become ‘the elephant in the room’.

“Hospice care is there to help a patient and their family to talk openly and honestly and to come to terms with any fears they may be facing. Our teams are there to help address the elephant in the room and to support them through their journey.

“Together with hospice support those affected by a life-limiting illness can live their life as fully as they were able for however many days, weeks or months they have left.”

After receiving a terminal diagnosis hospice care is able to support a patient and their family through the journey, as Jane Callingham, aged 75 from Lincoln, explains.

“When I was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis I went into complete shock and for a while my husband and I thought we would have to face this diagnosis alone. When we discovered St Barnabas could help us we sat and cried together in sheer relief.

“The hospice staff and volunteers have been with us every step of the way, and most importantly, they have always been incredibly open and honest about how my condition will progress and what to expect at the end.

“This has helped me to feel like I have taken back some control and talking openly helps to relieve some of the anxieties that I often feel. Acknowledging the elephant is vitally important and has helped us to make the most of the time we have.”

Collectively, the eight hospices involved care for more than 13,000 people which over 5,000 people are supported in their own homes and the community. They need to raise £35,204,000 annually.

For more information and a full list of hospices involved, visit www.mylocalhospice.co.uk #mylocalhospice

The hospices involved include:

• Ashgate Hospicecare

• Blythe House Hospice

• Beaumond House Hospice

• Dove Cottage Day Hospice

• LOROS

• Nottinghamshire Hospice

• St Barnabas Hospice

• Treetops Hospice Care

Tracey Bleakley from Hospice UK will give a speech at the celebration event in Boston

St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice and Butterfly Hospice to showcase services during Hospice Care week

In recognition of Hospice Care Week St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice has partnered Butterfly Hospice in Boston to host an evening of celebration.

The celebration will be held on Friday 7th October, from 6.30pm at Westwood Lakes, Five House Lane, Boston PE21 7JA.

Guests can learn more about how hospice care impacts the local community with keynote speeches from the chief executives of both organisations. Tracey Bleakley, the CEO of Hospice UK will also be supporting the event and delivering a speech. Guests can then enjoy a hog roast and live music.

Ann Randall, Community Liaison and Events Officer for St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice, said:

“We are delighted to be working together with Butterfly Trust on this event. Hospice care is built around what is important to the individual and their loved ones and this event will showcase how important this care is within our local community. We look forward to welcoming everyone to join with us and celebrating all we and our partner organisations are able to provide.”

Linda Sanderson, Head of Butterfly Hospice, said:

“We are all really looking forward to the evening, the aim being to celebrate the excellent hospice care provided in our community by The Butterfly Hospice Trust, Cruse Bereavement Services, Lincolnshire Community Health Services, MacMillan, Marie Curie and St Barnabas.”

Hospice Care Week takes place every year and is a week of activity aimed at raising awareness of hospice care across the UK. This year’s Hospice Care Week will take place from 3-9 October with the theme being “Hospice care is…”

Tickets are priced at £10 per person with the proceeds donated to St Barnabas Hospice and Butterfly Hospice.

To purchase a ticket contact Ann Randall on 07436581568 or email ann.randall@stbarnabashospice.co.uk
or contact Laura Slayven on 01205 311222 or email laura.slayven@butterflyhospice.org.uk

Staff and volunteers from St Barnabas Hospice marched in Lincoln Pride

St Barnabas Hospice supports LGBT community in annual march through Lincoln

St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice joined hundreds of others on Saturday 24th September to march in Lincoln’s LGBT Pride for the first time.

Staff, volunteers and supporters took part in the march through central Lincoln to spread the message that hospice care is there to support everyone. They held a large banner with ‘Here for everyone’ emblazoned across the middle.

Ruth O’Melia, Community Liaison Manager for St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice, said:

“We have been actively involved with the LGBT community in Lincoln for almost five years and are delighted to be able to show our support in this year’s march. We hope that by attending this event we are able to send a very clear message that hospice care is for everyone, regardless of their background.

“St Barnabas does not discriminate and our care and services are there to ensure that everyone receives dignified, compassionate care when they require it and where they ask for it.”

Since 2012, Lincoln Pride UK has been providing a fun and safe space in the East Midlands for people in Lincoln and the surrounding area. Each year, the day has gone from strength to strength drawing in an increasingly wide range of members of the local community.

Incorporating charities and businesses with the common goal of promoting equality and diversity, Lincoln Pride is a celebration of everything that you are.

East Lindsey residents are invited to find out more about local hospice and join them for tea and cake

To celebrate Hospice Care Week 2016 St Barnabas Hospice are throwing open their doors to the residents of East Lindsey.

The awareness raising week is held from 3rd to 9th October and is an annual week of activity to raise the profile of hospice care across the UK. Each year we hold a week of celebration and action, which helps to change people’s perceptions of hospice care.

St Barnabas, the principal provider of end-of-life care across the locality, are hosting an Open Evening on Tuesday 4th October, from 5pm – 7pm and a Coffee Morning on Thursday 6th October, from 10am – 11.30am at their base on Grimsby Road.

“Hospice Care Week is the perfect opportunity for us to invite our local community into our hospice,” said St Barnabas’ Nicky Ingall, who manages Louth Hospice. “There will be the opportunity to tour our beautiful building, get to know our hardworking team and take time to relax in our award winning garden.

“Many people may not realise the full extent of the services we are able to offer those living with both cancer and non-cancer conditions from our flagship site. Day therapy is offered three times a week with its therapeutic sessions growing in popularity month-on-month.”

St Barnabas also offers physiotherapy services, two days a week, in response to increasing demand to provide more palliative rehabilitation to patients.

Nicky said: “Many of the specialist services that hospices like St Barnabas now provide do not require a person to be an inpatient – there are so many other ways that we support people that are medically more appropriate and preferred by the patients themselves.

“Day therapy can help people with a range of issues which they may be having difficulty with, such as physical, emotional, social, spiritual and psychological problems. The aim of attending the range of day therapy activities is to help people manage their symptoms, help them gain more confidence at home by assessing their personal needs, and help improve the quality of their lives.”

The unit is the headquarters for St Barnabas’s local Hospice at Home team, which supports people with advanced illnesses to be cared for in the familiar surroundings of their home and to die there if that is their wish. The team supported over 700 people in this way over the last year.

St Barnabas also provides pre and post bereavement counselling through its Family Support Service, with a drop-in bereavement group meeting every Thursday afternoon at Louth Hospice.

Anyone aged 18 and above can refer themselves to any or all of the different services provided, without the need for a doctor’s letter.

For further information on how St Barnabas’ care services can be accessed in your area please call 01522 511566 or visit www.stbarnabashospice.co.uk

For information about how you can get involved in local fundraising events to raise the £4.5 million needed each year contact Amy Reeve on 07442504651 or email amy.reeve@stbarnabashospice.co.uk

Alternatively join the team for the Open Evening or Coffee Morning at St Barnabas Hospice, Grimsby Road, Louth LN11 0SX

St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice looks for volunteers to provide companionship for patients

St Barnabas Hospice is appealing for volunteers from across Lincolnshire to spare a few hours each month to offer companionship, support and a listening ear to patients and their carers.

The charity aims to relieve loneliness of those diagnosed with a life limiting illness by building a relationship offering friendly support, companionship, support and help to get advice and timely referrals.

St Barnabas Hospice hopes to launch the initiative in October and are looking for volunteers to join their Consistent Companions team.

Lisa Gibson, Community Development Manager for St Barnabas Lincolnshire Hospice, said:

“The charity is committed to offering a lifeline of support and friendship to those with a life-limiting illness who are experiencing loneliness. It is essentially about a volunteer supporting a patient to remain engaged with their community by behaving as a good neighbour would.”

The key duties of the role will include companionship and emotional support, respite for carers and providing practical support.

Lisa said: “The role is about preserving social contact and dignity through human kindness and will be very personally rewarding and fulfilling. The volunteer will gain valuable skills around caring and ultimately we want our volunteers to enjoy the time spent with the patient.”

Anyone interested in volunteering can contact Lisa Gibson on 01476 513557 or email lisa.gibson@stbarnabashospice.co.uk

St Barnabas Hospice encourages local community to talk openly about dying, death and bereavement with theatre performance

St Barnabas Lincolnshire are working in partnership with Zest, a Lincoln-based theatre company, to bring their latest performance ‘Thrive’ to The Gliderdrome in Boston

Held on Monday 10th and Tuesday 11th October, from 7pm, ‘Thrive’ follows the journey of three young people whose lives are turned upside down by the sudden death of a friend. The audience are invited to join them as they work through their pain, remember the good (and bad) times, and ultimately try to grow from their experience.

Lisa Gibson, Community Development Manager, said:

“Thrive is a bold piece of new writing that has been created especially for young people and explores how we can find hope in the face of adversity. This piece of theatre breaks the usual narrative to bring the audience into the performance for an immersive experience.”

The performance at Boston is part of a national tour which will run from October 2015 until March 2016.

Lisa continued: “This performance is a wonderful way to get conversations started about dying, death and bereavement. These conversations aren’t always easy, but they could be the most important conversations you will ever have. In many ways, death and dying has become a modern day taboo with people actively avoiding their own mortality.

“A fundamental change in society to accept death as a part of the life cycle will mean that when death does have an impact on our lives we will be better equipped to support each other.

“Open and honest conversations will also mean that more people are able to access the care and support they need, make the most of the time they have and have their end of life wishes met.”

Tickets are priced at £5 per person and £3 concession for students with a valid ID. Tickets can be purchased online from www.stbarnabashospice.co.uk or from the St Barnabas Hospice shop in Boston.

The age suitability for Thrive is 14+