Volunteer June brings a smile to Wednesdays for patients and staff at Pilgrims
June from Ashford, dedicates her Wednesdays to Pilgrims Hospices as a Ward Support volunteer on the in-patient unit.
Having retired from a career as a registered nurse of 48 years, she is a first-time volunteer, and a very welcome one at the Ashford hospice.
June turns 68 this month; on retirement, she decided that using some of her new-found free time to volunteer, would be a really positive thing to do. She said: “I haven’t any connections to Pilgrims Hospices, but knew of them as an important local charity offering end-of-life specialist care to our local community. I contacted Pilgrims to find out about volunteering opportunities, but then everything changed, the country went into COVID lockdown and all volunteering stopped.
“When things improved, Pilgrims got in touch with me, they were very keen to find candidates to train in new roles as Ward Support volunteers. The role was explained and I definitely thought my skills would be useful. Not because of my nursing background, but because I’m a real people person, I love to chat and listen to people, it’s a role that requires enthusiasm and compassion to say the least.
“It’s quite a diverse role, sometimes supporting the care team with some fetching and carrying; but, most importantly, spending time with the patients in positive engagement along with being a welcoming face and emotional support for visitors.”
June on the ward
June completed her application, and was invited to meet Annie Hogben who supports volunteer training and development, and was consequently offered the role. The role comes with appropriate training and ongoing support to ensure volunteers are fully skilled in safety, Pilgrims’ high standards in diversity and equality and, very importantly, a full DBS check.
Annie said: “It’s wonderful to see volunteers from all walks of life, supporting Pilgrims care in these roles.
“The response from the local community has been fantastic, we’re incredibly proud to work with such dedicated and caring volunteers.”
June continued: “I have been volunteering since December 2021, and really enjoy being part of the team. Between the nurses, relatives and patients, I’ve had the most amazing conversations, and feel very privileged to have people share some of their fears and honesty with me at such difficult times.
“People are very appreciative of the time I’m able to give, it’s good to know they are reassured and comforted, I feel valued as part of the team, and value the skills of my fellow volunteers and the dedicated Pilgrims staff.
“Everyone that I’ve met at the hospice, whether in care and nursing, domestic support or catering, have all been very lovely. The hospice is most definitely a happy place, not sad at all.”
Please note: We are not currently recruiting additional Ward Support Volunteers.
Volunteers’ Week is a chance to say thank you for the fantastic contribution millions of volunteers make across the UK. It takes place 1-7 June every year and is an opportunity to celebrate volunteering in all its diversity.
We’re accredited by REVAMP, a quality mark for Volunteer Involving Organisations developed by Stronger Kent Communities, a leading provider of support for the voluntary sector in Kent.
Each year, Pilgrims Hospices give care and comfort to thousands of people in east Kent who are coming to terms with an illness that sadly cannot be cured. The charity support patients to live life as well as possible until the very end, free from pain and distress.
Danielle grows kitchen garden for Pilgrims Hospices
Danielle Duttson, a former teacher and now gardener, from Ramsgate, has been a Volunteer Kitchen Gardener at Pilgrims Hospice Thanet since January 2022.
She is helping the hospice team to grow vegetables, fruits and herbs that will be enjoyed year-round by patients, staff, volunteers and visitors.
Hugo and Wilbur helping out in the Thanet hospice kitchen garden
Danielle is using previously-installed raised beds to create a kitchen garden that will provide the hospice with fresh, seasonal produce throughout the year. Her sons – Wilbur (8) and Hugo (6) – sometimes join her to help out.
She said: “Ideally, it will be a space that everyone can enjoy. Hopefully, patients who are well enough will be able to potter and pick their own peas, salads, strawberries and much more. It’s early days, but by July the garden will be in full swing.”
Danielle’s volunteering is appreciated very much by the whole Pilgrims team.
Drew Fowler, Chef at the Thanet hospice, said: “Dannie is fantastic and an amazing asset to us; she plants, tends and nurtures all manner of plants and herbs for us to utilise in the kitchen.
“We struggled to maintain the garden ourselves due to staff levels, and would like to thank Dannie for her time and dedication to help towards us producing healthy and nutritious meals for our patients, staff and visitors. It’s so nice for us to be able to tell our patients that some of the food on their plates has been grown right outside, in our hospice gardens. As a team, we thrive off the feedback we receive; it inspires us to go that extra mile and do even more for the people we care for.”
Danielle with Drew Fowler, Chef at the Thanet hospice
Danielle is inspired to support her local hospice charity because some of her close family members received end-of-life care, and she wants others to benefit.
She added: “When it can seem like the bleakest time, having a place that feels like home, where nothing is too much trouble and you’re surrounded by nature and compassion, can make a real difference.”
“Wilbur and Hugo love planting seeds and watering the beds. Hopefully, they will grow up without the fear and sadness often associated with hospices.”
Pilgrims is in need of donations for its kitchen garden, particularly:
Seeds
Plug plants
Herbs
Mulch
Compost
If you can help, please contact George Braithwaite, Head Chef at Pilgrims Hospice Thanet:
Volunteers’ Week is a chance to say thank you for the fantastic contribution millions of volunteers make across the UK. It takes place 1-7 June every year and is an opportunity to celebrate volunteering in all its diversity.
We’re accredited by REVAMP, a quality mark for Volunteer Involving Organisations developed by Stronger Kent Communities, a leading provider of support for the voluntary sector in Kent.
Each year, Pilgrims Hospices give care and comfort to thousands of people in east Kent who are coming to terms with an illness that sadly cannot be cured. The charity support patients to live life as well as possible until the very end, free from pain and distress.
Pilgrims Hospices celebrate Volunteers’ Week 2022
Volunteers’ Week is an opportunity to celebrate and say thank you to people across the UK who give their time, in many different ways and in a variety of roles, through volunteering.
Helen Bennett, Chief Executive Officer at Pilgrims Hospices, explains why volunteers are vital to the work of the local hospice charity.
Pilgrims Hospices are delighted to have welcomed back many of our much-valued volunteers following the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Over the past two years, our volunteers have returned to work with us in our wards, offices, shops, gardens, our community projects and fundraising initiatives.
Our volunteers are the backbone of the hospice and without their expertise, time and dedication gifted to us so generously, we would have been unable to provide the standard of care that we are proud to offer to the thousands of individuals we support each year.
For Volunteers’ Week, we reflect on the experiences of our volunteers during the last two years, and sincerely thank each of them for their flexibility, humility and kindness to ensure we continued to provide our services to those who most needed them.
Looking back on the last year, Pilgrims Hospices has been pleased with the introduction of some new volunteering opportunities and their success. Alongside our Ward Volunteers, providing direct care and assistance to our patients, we now work with Expert Volunteers bringing key skills such as counselling and bereavement services into our hospices. These roles have strengthened our services and have further improved the quality of care we give to those who need our help.
For Volunteers’ Week, we reflect on the experiences of our volunteers during the last two years, and sincerely thank each of them for their flexibility, humility and kindness to ensure we continued to provide our service to those who most needed them.
Helen Bennett, Chief Executive Officer at Pilgrims Hospices
In addition, as life returns closer to normal, our Retail teams have really brought Pilgrims Hospices back to the high street with a bang! Thanks to the wonderful donations we’ve received from the public, expertly sorted and sold by our Retail and online teams – Pilgrims Hospices has raised £4.5 million in sales to fund the critical work we do.
We are also very much looking forward to welcoming back our psychosocial and wellbeing volunteers, including those in complementary therapy, spiritual care and those who support our Therapy Centre programmes.
This year, our Thank You events for both our volunteers and staff return at each of our hospice sites. We look forward to seeing everyone there as a thank you for their unwavering support, dedication and commitment.
Volunteers’ Week is a chance to say thank you for the fantastic contribution millions of volunteers make across the UK. It takes place 1-7 June every year and is an opportunity to celebrate volunteering in all its diversity.
We’re accredited by REVAMP, a quality mark for Volunteer Involving Organisations developed by Stronger Kent Communities, a leading provider of support for the voluntary sector in Kent.
Each year, Pilgrims Hospices give care and comfort to thousands of people in east Kent who are coming to terms with an illness that sadly cannot be cured. The charity support patients to live life as well as possible until the very end, free from pain and distress.
16th September 2021
Hospice at Home: “The hidden gem of hospice care”
Pilgrims Hospices offer a wide range of support to people across east Kent who are living with life-limiting conditions – on its wards and in its Therapy Centres in Ashford, Canterbury and Thanet, and also out in the local community within peoples’ own homes.
One such service is Hospice at Home; working with those considered to be within the last 72 hours of life, this vital team of Senior Healthcare Assistants (SHCAs) support families through the dying process at an incredibly difficult and important moment. Between them, they travel across the whole of east Kent to offer their skills and support. They work in shifts from 07:30-21:00, always in pairs.
Mandy Hilden, Hospice at Home Team Leader
The Hospice at Home service began in 2009 and is a small team of seven: Mandy Hilden (Team Leader), Becky Baldwin, Sharon Beal, Daniel Brown, Tracy Fullarton, Sharron Hill and Rachel Kendall-Jones.
Referrals to the service are made via GPs, Pilgrims’ multidisciplinary team, a hospital palliative care team or district nurse, and the Hospice at Home team aim to respond within four hours.
If a patient wants to be discharged from hospice or hospital care to die at home, the team help to make this possible; 24-hour care at home is not available, but the team can visit a couple of times a day to provide support and personal care.
Duties are numerous and varied, and no two days are the same.
The team said:
“We help with personal care and offer emotional support to families and carers. We’re not time-restricted like some care providers are, so it’s nice to be able to give people our full, undivided attention for as long as they need it.
“We have a good relationship with district nursing teams, who we contact if a patient needs medicines administering. We also report any changes in a patients’ condition to them and the palliative specialist nurses, so that their care is joined up and tailored to them.
“Although we can’t offer overnight sits, we can refer to organisations that do so families are able to rest and catch up on some sleep.
“Hospice at Home is the hidden gem of Pilgrims’ care. There’s often an assumption that we only offer inpatient units on the ward, but there’s so much more. It’s such a rewarding role, and it’s a real privilege to be allowed into peoples’ homes at a very difficult time. We’re not there to take over, just to support; you can see the pressure taken off family members when we arrive. It’s lovely to go home knowing you’ve done a good job.
“It can be an emotionally and physically challenging role, but we also have an overwhelming feeling of pride and reward in what we do. It’s a real privilege to be able to support patients and families at an extremely personal time.”
It’s such a rewarding role, and it’s a real privilege to be allowed into peoples’ homes at a very difficult time. We’re not there to take over, just to support; you can see the pressure taken off family members when we arrive. It’s lovely to go home knowing you’ve done a good job.
Hospice at Home team
Hospice at Home has continued to be a much-needed and appreciated service during COVID-19. Early on in the pandemic, no visitors were allowed in the hospice buildings; as people were advised to stay home, more were able to care for loved ones there. This meant that many patients chose to be at home with loved ones at the end of their lives. The team was also deployed to the hospice wards and wider community, supporting where needed, especially at the height of the second wave over Christmas 2020.
The team holistically accompanies patients in their journeys – from identifying when they’re nearing the end of life, providing last offices for loved ones, and caring for the family afterwards.
They continued:
“Most SHCA skills are transferable to other roles, particularly when working on the hospice wards, which we have often covered as a team. During the pandemic, we’ve regularly supported our colleagues at this very challenging time.
“Our team became trainers for local nursing and residential homes, showing staff how to ‘don and doff’ PPE correctly. We also assisted a nursing home that was in crisis when their staff and residents all contracted COVID.”
The team’s compassion and commitment is reflected in feedback from families they have supported:
“The carers who came twice a day were amazing, they helped wash my dad, used his favourite body spray, combed his hair. He looked so much more himself and comfortable afterwards, with dignity.”
“The support I received caring for my sister was unbelievable, the team were amazing with everything. I felt like I had gained two more special sisters during this difficult time.”
“They looked after my father daily, looking after his personal needs. They were and are amazing. As soon as they started with us, their confidence and manner calmed us all down. A ray of light in a very bleak time.”
Kate White, Head of Nursing at Pilgrims, said: “Hospice at Home offer an invaluable service to those wishing to die at home by attending their home to give expert personal care in the last few days of life. They are able to take the time to support the patient and their loved ones at a most difficult time, with compassion and dedication. I receive numerous compliments from family members who’ve been so grateful and relieved for their input, as it means the patient’s wish to die at home is fulfilled. The team is vital to our overall hospice service, giving people choice and an alternative to inpatient care.”
Main image, L-R: Rachel Kendall-Jones, Sharon Beal, Daniel Brown, Sharron Hill, Tracy Fullarton, Becky Baldwin
Each year Pilgrims Hospices give care and comfort to over 2,500 people in east Kent who are coming to terms with an illness that sadly cannot be cured. The charity support patients to live life as well as possible until the very end, free from pain and distress.
14th September 2021
Valued volunteer Dea will be sadly missed at Pilgrims Hospices
Long-time Pilgrims volunteer, Dea Martindale from Sturry, passed away under the care of the hospice she supported and loved on 23 August 2021.
Dea who was 79, had been diagnosed with motor neurone disease in October 2020 and had become more unwell suddenly in early August 2021.
She spent a short while in the Canterbury hospice before returning home under Pilgrims’ Hospice at Home care team.
Corrina Collins, Dea’s daughter said: “Mum was extremely proud to be a volunteer at the hospice, it was an important part of her life and very much her priority in her retirement years. She was a member of the reception team and had been known to sit with patients who had no family or visitors to give them comfort and support.
“My sister Nichola and I can’t thank the Hospice at Home team enough, they were absolutely amazing; just like angels. They were not only wonderful with Mum in her final few days, but a tower of strength for us too. Nothing was too much trouble, and they were indeed a great comfort to us all.”
Dea with social worker Lynne Digby during a marketing photo shoot for Pilgrims
Over her 24 years of dedicated volunteering for the local end-of-life charity, she was often seen on a Sunday afternoon and always during the festive season, supporting wherever she could. After her husband Ken was cared for on the Canterbury hospice ward, she became a regular member of the hospice reception team. She also volunteered within the Therapy Centre, helping service users with crafting activities, lunches and plenty of cups of tea. Her generous and smiling nature would often get her involved with the Pilgrims marketing team, being part of photo shoots to promote hospice services. She was also a keen fundraiser, supporting the fundraising team at events including Summer and Christmas fairs. Car boot sales were also something she enjoyed over a number of years, she collected and stored goods to sell, raising tens of thousands of pounds to help keep Pilgrims’ valuable services running.
Corrina added: “Mum was an independent and strong lady, it was crushing to see her become poorly so quickly. However, it’s been lovely to hear the nurses speak so fondly of her and to know she was truly valued as a volunteer.
Mum was extremely proud to be a volunteer at the hospice, it was an important part of her life and very much her priority in her retirement years.
Corrina, Dea’s daughter
Adrian Matthews, Pilgrims Hospice Services Manager said: “I took over as Site Manager at Canterbury three and a half years ago and as such took over the volunteers on reception as their manager.
“I have to say, Dea will forever stick in my memory as one of my trusted members of the team but I would hope as a friend as well.
“An absolute gem of a person and someone I am very proud to have come to know.”
Dea received the Lord Mayor of Canterbury community service award in 2013 for her work at the hospices.
A Pilgrims team member said: “It is with great sadness that we say good-bye to Dea, she will be missed by all of us, and will remain a wonderful testament to the amazing work that our volunteer workforce do at the hospices.”
Dea with her daughters, Corrina and Nichola
Dea had discussed with her daughters a bucket list of things that she wanted to achieve over the past year, which included some strong wishes for her funeral arrangements and to ensure her very last car boot sale took place.
“Me and Mum’s very close friend Jenny, were able to carry out her boot sales wishes, selling about 90% of the items gathered with all money being donated to Pilgrims Hospices, the remaining items have been given to the Pilgrims Hospices shops. I know Mum was really pleased and satisfied that she was able to make this final commitment to her much loved hospices” added Corrina.
Although Dea was unable to fulfil her bucket list due to COVID restrictions and her rapidly failing health, the daughters’ plan to tick one of their mum’s wishes from the list by taking a trip to the South Bank and sipping cocktails in her memory.
Dea’s funeral will take place on Monday 27 September at Barham Crematorium at 3:20pm.
Each year Pilgrims Hospices give care and comfort to over 2,500 people in east Kent who are coming to terms with an illness that sadly cannot be cured. The charity support patients to live life as well as possible until the very end, free from pain and distress.
30th June 2021
Local business supports Pilgrims Hospices with ‘25 acts of giving’
To celebrate its 25 year anniversary, Ramsgate-based company Business Computer Solutions Ltd. (BCS) is encouraging staff to volunteer for local causes in a ‘25 acts of giving’ initiative. Helen Bradley, Sales Administrator, from Broadstairs and Khan Tomlinson, Systems Administrator, from Ramsgate chose to volunteer for Pilgrims Hospices. They each wanted to give back to the hospice charity that serves their local community.
Helen’s hand-crafted decorative bottles
On 24 June 2021, Helen and Khan gave up their time to volunteer at Pilgrims’ Broadstairs shop. In addition, they donated several items to sell in the shop including jigsaws, photo frames, a desk tidy, books, an armchair rest organiser and a room diffuser. Helen also contributed decorative bottles that she made using new, empty wine bottles with lights inside.
Helen said: “I love a good charity shop, and this one is my favourite in Broadstairs; the staff and volunteers are so friendly. I wanted to get involved and interact with the local public.”
Khan added: “It’s been really fun meeting customers and so interesting to see exactly what goes into managing a charity shop. The volunteers work so hard, and I was surprised how much stock gets donated and processed behind the scenes.”
Mandy Hawkett, Retail Area Manager at Pilgrims, said: “I’d like to thank Helen and Khan for supporting Pilgrims as their chosen charity. I am really proud of Pilgrims’ retail stores and our dedicated shop teams, so I was delighted when Helen approached us regarding the ‘25 acts of giving’ project and her wish to spend the day in our lovely Broadstairs store. The team take pride in their store, creating a fabulous atmosphere to shop and volunteer in.
“It was such a lovely day. Khan worked on the till delivering excellent customer service, and Helen put out new items of stock, ensuring the displays were looking their best throughout the day; both were supported by the experts, our wonderful volunteers.”
Tim Stewart, Retail Business Development Manager at Pilgrims, added: “It’s so important to us that local businesses like BCS support us in what we do. It’s great that their staff came to our Broadstairs shop to see first-hand just how hard our staff and volunteers work to get the most out of the donations we receive. There is a perception that charity shops are simple and straightforward to operate, but I’m sure Helen and Khan can now confirm that there is so much work that goes into getting donated stock ready for sale!
“BCS staff donated so much lovely stock to us on the day, and they were able to Gift Aid it which made the donations 25% more valuable. We’re really pleased that Helen and Khan chose us as their preferred charity, and even better that they took the time out of their busy schedules to come into the shop and help run it for the day; I’m sure they went home exhausted but feeling very fulfilled.”
Other BCS employees are volunteering across Thanet in several capacities, getting involved with beach cleaning, community gardening projects and girl guiding.
Martin Hynes, Managing Director at BCS, said: “At BCS we have always felt businesses should play a role in helping their local communities. We have embraced this philosophy over the last 25 years, which has seen us support various local charities and good causes, including with our most recent ‘25 acts of giving’ where the entire BCS team participated in helping local causes, to celebrate our 25 years in business. We would like to thank Pilgrims for helping make this possible; our team have gained a great deal out of the experience, and we hope to have inspired other local businesses and residents to do the same.”
Each year Pilgrims Hospices give care and comfort to over 2,500 people in east Kent who are coming to terms with an illness that sadly cannot be cured. The charity support patients to live life as well as possible until the very end, free from pain and distress.
