Hospice Awareness Week this month

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Hospice Awareness Week this month

01 May 2024, 6:46 PM

It’s Hospice Awareness Week from May 13 to 19, and Harbour Hospice is asking the community to get behind the campaign to help make life better for patients in hospice care.

“Everyone deserves access to a good end-of-life experience, but many people reach us too late or not at all – and we need this to change,” Harbour Hospice chief executive Jan Nichols says.

“Throughout the week we’re highlighting the importance of reaching those with a life-limiting illness earlier in their journey, so we can do more to support them to live well, in the place they call home with the people they love.”

Lots of local businesses will be showing their support across the week. Some supermarkets will be asking customers to add $1 to their shop for the charity, with other businesses supporting the campaign in different ways.

Harbour Hospice shops in Warkworth, Wellsford and Te Hana will be inviting customers to add an extra dollar to their purchases. If a donation is made online at harbourhospice.org.nz construction company Youngman Richardson will match the donation, up to $10,000.

“Harbour Hospice cares for one in three people in the community. But what few people realise is that the earlier hospice can be involved a person’s care, the more we can do to help them,” Nichols says.

Grandfather and great grandfather Brian Evans, 86, began receiving Harbour Hospice care six months ago and says having that support has helped him relax more and enjoy every day. “I don’t have to worry about my illness because I know hospice is taking care of me. I feel more relaxed, and my breathing has improved,” he says.

Brian receives regular visits from the hospice community nursing team and attends the service’s Open Doors day programme at Tui House, which provides lunch and an informative talk. Brian says he enjoys the talks and he loves the social contact with the others in the group.

“We don’t talk about our ailments, we talk about the day-to-day but we know what each of us are going through and that’s what makes it so good.”

Brian used to be a keen hunter but had to give that up. Hospice has helped him find new ways to enjoy his days, he says. He has reignited his passion for gardening and taken up walking. Hospice was even there for Brian and his wife Gayle when they celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary this month, putting on a lunch and a party for them.

“It has been absolutely marvellous,” He says.

Nichols says hospice is not just about dying.

“It’s about being there for patients like Brian, families and whānau to make those final years, months or weeks more joyful, not just less awful.”

To find out how you can support Harbour Hospice during Hospice Awareness Week go to

https://harbourhospice.org.nz/event/hospice-awareness-week

Local supermarkets supporting Harbour Hospice this Awareness Week

Please add $1 to support Harbour Hospice when shopping at any of the supermarkets listed below.