11th October 2023

    Celebrating Compassionate Care during Hospice Care Week 2023

    Pilgrims Hospices is excited to announce its participation in Hospice Care Week, taking place from 9th to 15th October 2023. This annual event serves as a platform to recognise and celebrate the vital role hospice care plays in our communities, offering comfort, support, and dignity to individuals and their families during life-limiting illnesses.

    Hospice Care Week is an opportunity to shed light on the incredible work done by hospice organisations across the country, and Pilgrims is proud to be at the forefront of providing exceptional end-of-life care to patients and their loved ones. This year’s theme, “Compassion in Action,” perfectly encapsulates Pilgrims dedication to delivering compassionate care, ensuring every individual receives the support they need to live their final moments with comfort and dignity.

    Hospices throughout the UK support more than 300,000 people every year. But the need for hospice care is growing. There aren’t enough people to fill the roles we need to look after dying patients and their families. Without people to fill these empty roles, hospices will struggle to keep providing the gold-standard end-of-life care everyone deserves.

    QUOTE

    From clinical staff to bereavement counsellors, kitchen staff to volunteer gardeners, the staff and volunteers who support over 300,000 people every year are what makes hospice care so special. This Hospice Care Week, we want to celebrate them. 

    Hospices are exciting, rewarding places to work, and with the need for hospice care growing, we need more people to take up the opportunity to work in this incredible profession. If you’re interested, reach out to your local hospice.”

    Toby Porter, CEO, Hospice UK

    Throughout Hospice Care Week, Pilgrims Hospices aims to create awareness, foster understanding, and celebrate the dedicated professionals and volunteers who make a difference in the lives of patients and their families.

    Chief Executive Officer of Pilgrims Hospices, Helen Bennett, shared their enthusiasm, saying, “Hospice Care Week is a time for us to reflect on the compassion and dedication of our team, who work tirelessly to provide comfort and support to individuals during their most vulnerable moments. We invite our community to join us in celebrating the profound impact of hospice care and to learn more about how we can all be part of this compassionate mission.”

    Pilgrims Hospices invites everyone to participate in Hospice Care Week 2023, and discover how compassion in action, can transform the lives of individuals and families facing end-of-life challenges.

    We know that hospice staff find it to be the most rewarding and satisfying job of their career.

    That’s why, this Hospice Care Week, we’ll be celebrating everyone that makes hospice care what it is.

    For more information about Pilgrims Hospices, please visit www.pilgrimshospices.org or contact [email protected].

    This year’s theme, “Celebrating Compassion”, emphasises the unwavering dedication and compassion of Pilgrims Hospices’ staff, volunteers, and supporters. Hospice care is about ensuring that individuals with life-limiting illnesses receive the highest quality of care that focuses on their physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

    Hospice Care Week is a time for us to reflect on the compassion and dedication of our team

    Helen    –    Pilgrims

    Working for Pilgrims Hospices:

    Whether you support patients and families within our care teams, help to raise vital funds or work in our support services, Pilgrims can offer a very rewarding career.

    Working alongside passionate, like-minded and knowledgeable people, a career with Pilgrims provides you with the opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of families within east Kent.

    Through providing care, working in our shops or attending events, there are always opportunities to network with other professionals and establish strong relationships within our community.

    Alternatively, you might like to volunteer for Pilgrims?

    Please explore our opportunities when you click here.


    About Pilgrims Hospices:

    Pilgrims Hospices is a leading provider of hospice care in east Kent. Committed to delivering compassionate, person-centred care, Pilgrims Hospices serves individuals facing life-limiting illnesses and their families. With a team of dedicated professionals and volunteers, the charity strives to ensure patients receive comfort, dignity, and support during their end-of-life journey. Learn more at www.pilgrimshospices.org.

     

    Pilgrims Hospices share workforce stories throughout Hospice Care Week

    Amy tells us why she has made a career in compassionate care and why Pilgrims is so important to her

    When I first came to work at Pilgrims Hospices, it was for a week as a temp while I was in between jobs. A week turned into two, which turned into a month. That was in July 2000 and the rest is history! After a few months covering in different departments, I got a job as a medical secretary at the Canterbury hospice. I really enjoyed that role, and 15 years later was successful recruited to become the hospices Administration Manager. My mum and dad also worked at the hospices.  Mum first, working in the Personnel department and then Dad after me, when he became the maintenance engineer at the Ashford hospice until he retired in 2011.

    I had just turned 21 when I started working at Pilgrims, and was fairly naïve about what a hospice was. Throughout the years, I have grown up with the organisation, through lots of changes in my personal and professional life. I have spent my most formative adult years expanding my knowledge on how we deliver end-of-life care. I honestly feel that because of this, the hospice has a special place in my heart. I love what we do; I love how Pilgrims’ look after patients and their families, and I think we make a massive difference to those people. Nothing is too much trouble, and we have always done as much as we could to help people with their wishes, large or small, at the end of their life.

    One of my proudest moments was when I was a medical secretary; a patient at Pilgrims Day Centre was a keen motorcyclist but was unable to ride anymore. His wish was to be able to just have one more ride on a motorcycle, but being unable to do this himself it needed to be in a sidecar. The team in the day centre came to ask me if I could try and find a way we could do this. I got in touch with some motorcycle clubs around the area, and a kind gentleman made contact saying he had a sidecar, and that it would be a pleasure to take the patient out for a ride. We arranged a meeting one Saturday, it was just amazing to see how excited and happy the patient and his family were that this could be achieved. The man with the sidecar turned out to be Eric Richard, the actor who played PC Bob Cryer in the TV series, The Bill, which added to the amazement! The best part of the day was, the patient had a brilliant time, and was so happy to be able to enjoy a motorcycle ride again.

    Having worked for Pilgrims for so long, I always thought I knew everything there was to know about the hospice and the care provided, but I was so wrong. Sadly my mum got cancer and was admitted to the Canterbury hospice for end-of-life care in 2017. To be in that situation – on the other side – now as a relative, was so different to what I’d thought. I was stunned at the level of care and attention the care teams give patients and relatives, and it honestly blew my mind. I had no idea just how deep their treatment went, and the commitment they give to each tiny detail. This made my love of the hospice movement even deeper than it had been. Mum was able to say how she wanted her last days to be, and this was achieved. Although devastating, she had the best death she could have had. This year, unfortunately my dad had a very short illness and was admitted to the Canterbury hospice. Like my mum, he was able to state his wishes; again this was achieved fully, and his death was also just as he wanted. Both were peaceful, with the family, full of the love they deserved.

    I could never repay Pilgrims for the wonderful care my parents received, and I fully understand when people say ‘a good death’. I don’t know what we would have done if we didn’t have the hospice to achieve this.

    The fact that I experienced this, makes me even more grateful that I work for a charity that helps thousands of patients and their families, all year round. I am extremely proud and humbled to be a part of something that provides a service like this.


    Working for Pilgrims Hospices:

    Whether you support patients and families within our care teams, help to raise vital funds or work in our support services, Pilgrims can offer a very rewarding career.

    Working alongside passionate, like-minded and knowledgeable people, a career with Pilgrims provides you with the opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of families within east Kent.

    Through providing care, working in our shops or attending events, there are always opportunities to network with other professionals and establish strong relationships within our community.

    Alternatively, you might like to volunteer for Pilgrims?

    Please explore our opportunities when you click here.

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