The coronavirus is having a devastating impact around the world, so we want to assure you that at St Helena Hospice, we are doing whatever necessary to support local people facing incurable illness and bereavement right now and we will continue to do so for the duration of this crisis; and when the pandemic is over.
As we all know, the pandemic isn’t over and there are still many challenges and hurdles to face.
We will continue to work 24/7 to ensure everyone in our care receives the support they need, when they need it; however, we still need your help.
We need to raise as much money as we can through our urgent appeal to ensure we can continue to provide this valuable service.
Please, if you can, donate to our urgent appeal and help us to ensure we can be here for patients and families in desperate need of our expert, vital care – now and in the future.
Dealing with the loss of a loved one at any time is never easy, but trying to navigate it through a global pandemic has made everything so much harder, because nothing about it has been ‘normal’.
Unlike many others, at St Helena Hospice, we not only provide bereavement support to families whose loved one has died with us, or were supported by our nurses in their own home, we offer it to the whole of our community, regardless of where or how someone has died.
Right now, as the number of people who needs our service starts to rise, our bereavement team is going to be needed more than ever. We need your help to ensure we can continue to provide the most appropriate support to everyone who needs us.
We have created an online memorial where you can make your donation and leave a message for those no longer with us.
The virtual memory wall is a space for anyone to commemorate their loved ones and to share and celebrate their memories, no matter when, where or how they died.
Make your donation and leave a dedication for a loved one on our virtual memory wall using the button below. If you wish to leave a message for our staff instead please donate further down the page.
Thank you to everyone who has left a message for the staff and volunteers at St Helena and made a donation.
All of your lovely messages have been shared with our staff and volunteers and have helped to boost morale during these difficult times.
If you would like to make a donation and leave a message for our incredible team of staff and volunteers who are working day and night, putting aside their fears to provide the best possible care to loved ones, click the button below.
We have expanded our bereavement service and partnered with Age Concern Colchester and North East Essex to ensure everyone locally can access and receive the support they need, in a timely way.
We are able to provide bereavement support and counselling to children, young people, families and adults over the phone or via video call.
By partnering with Age Concern, we have been able to draw on their resource of bereavement befrienders, who can provide a listening ear and some support over the phone immediately, until a St Helena counsellor is available. They can also continue to provide support after counselling sessions have finished, if the person feels that would be beneficial.
You can find out more about our partnership with Age Concern and the bereavement support available here
The local NHS has appointed St Helena Hospice as the lead organisation coordinating all out of hospital end of life care activity in north east Essex for the duration of the situation.
We have therefore expanded our SinglePoint service and we are working alongside community colleagues and primary care, bringing everyone together in order to respond to any needs in the community relating to end of life care.
To do that, we’ve taken on additional call handlers and nurses to respond to the increase in calls to our 24/7 advice line; and we’ve enhanced our rapid response service, visiting patients at home who are in crisis, day and night.
We have also increased the capacity of our inpatient unit, with an additional two beds at The Hospice, allowing us to care for up 18 patients at a time.
We have also partnered with Bluebird care to allow us to increase the number of beds on our Virtual Ward from eight to 14.
You can read more about this here
These vast changes, whilst vital for supporting local people facing dying, death and bereavement, do come at an extra cost to us.
As a charity, we need to raise around £2 million a year from our shops and fundraising combined and both of these have been significantly impacted for several months because of the coronavirus.
That’s why we’re asking you to please support our Urgent Appeal if you can.
Thank you for any help you are able to give us.
£15 could provide support and comfort to an individual grieving the death of a loved one over the phone with a bereavement support worker.
£20 could help a patient staying at The Hospice to keep their strength up by providing nutritious, home cooked meals for two days
£40 could provide vital care and support for patients at the end of their life from a registered nurse at The Hospice for two hours
£60 could provide a family facing the death of a loved one with advice and tools to support children to open up and share their feelings from our family support team.
£120 could help someone struggling with the traumatic death of a loved to be supported through six sessions of bereavement counselling.