 Newsletter 2007 |
Locals Caring for Locals
Chairman's Chat - May 2007
The Board and Management team are again at the point in the year where, having reviewed our performance over the last year, we need to turn our thoughts to the period ahead. We have finalised the budget and are confident, in spite of the ever-growing call on our services, that we will be able to maintain the high quality of caring that we have achieved to date, and will somehow raise the necessary funding to support this work.!
We are so grateful that we can report that our Hospice work here in Knysna/Sedgefield is, having qualified under a National Accreditation scheme, truly a centre of excellence in every respect and this is as a result of a wonderful team of some 30 staff members and the selfless work of a volunteers team numbering almost 300, all supported by a concerned and generous community. Thank you to all these folk.
This does mean that we carry an additional responsibility and challenge. Whilst we will ensure that we never let our local standards slip, we will be constantly challenged to use our expertise, our systems, our training strengths and our ability to mentor, to enable other communities to establish and operate similar facilities and services. We will also have to tap into funding that will facilitate this work and possibly also to play a part in the structures that are developing nationally, as well as in the provinces, under the leadership of the Hospice Palliative Care Association (HPCA), of which we are members and who have defined the objective as the promotion of:
- Quality in Life
- Dignity in Death
- Support in Bereavement
- To ALL in South Africa.
We look forward to the ongoing support of the communities of Knysna and Sedgefield as we play our role in "making it happen."
Warmest regards,
DAVID BATH
"Spreading Our Wings - Sharing Our Skills"
by Dr Janet Stanford
CEO Hospice Knysna
The Diana, Princess of Wales Fund states as its goal " …to ensure that palliative care becomes part of public health policy in every country in sub-Saharan Africa. This is being achieved through supporting local 'champions' who provide palliative care, promoting training for doctors, nurses, health care workers and volunteers and advocating for the availability of drugs for pain relief and symptom control."
Knysna Sedgefield Hospice has been playing a part in the goal by:
- Offering a caregiver's course which introduces volunteers and staff to the Hospice philosophy over 9 weeks.
- Reaching out to clinic staff and equipping them with basic symptom control knowledge.
- Participating in the training of Provincial health department doctors, nurses and social workers in Knysna , Plettenberg Bay, Beaufort West and Oudtshoorn in a 5 day introduction to palliative care.
We hope that this will spread the palliative care approach and skills into general medical settings to the benefit of patients and health care providers.
Christopher Johns*, an experienced palliative care practitioner in the UK gives some thoughts on working with people with life limiting conditions and their families:
"To be touched by death is to feel life. We who work with palliative care must take death in our stride. It is our business but that doesn't make it any easier. Each death is a remarkable event. We must learn to flow with the tide and feel the beauty of life about us and if it is painful then that pain is simply a reminder that nothing can ever be taken for granted.
Rather than trying to control what can never be controlled, we can find a sense of security in being able to meet what is actually happening. This is allowing for the mystery of things: not judging but rather cultivating a balance of mind that can receive what is happening, whatever it is. The acceptance is a source of our safety and confidence. (Salzberg 1995, p. 142)"
*BEING MINDFUL, EASING SUFFERING
Reflections on Palliative Care
Christopher Johns
Jessica Kingsley Publishers 2004
It's All About The Patient
Our staff and volunteers all beaver away at a remarkable variety of differing activities, but the thing that is common is the motive - to care for the patients.
So who are our patients? They too vary dramatically. Some are young, some are old, some are rich and some are poor. Our admissions last year were about 40 % coloured, 35% black and 25% white (not much different from the composition of our town). Our biggest intake of terminal patients were cancer sufferers followed closely by Aids sufferers. We also care for many chronic suffers, who may for example have suffered a severe stroke. The only thing that is common to our patients is that a competent medical professional has referred them to our care. The common thing is they need our care.
One of the really great aspects of Hospice - perhaps the greatest - is the simplicity and purity of the commitment that we make, and it is this - If a patient is properly referred to us we care for that person.
That's it. No if's. No but's. No small print.
We hope you find this newsletter informative and interesting. As you read about the amazing spectrum of activities that make up the world of Hospice we hope you will marvel at this variety of method, but remain motivated by the unity of purpose -
It's all about the patient.
Editorial team: Peter, Penny & Annie
KNYSNA HOSPICE SHOPPE
The Knysna Hospice Shoppe celebrated its 11th Birthday this year on 11 March. It has become a major force in raising funds from the local community whilst providing a source of quality goods to those less fortunate. The Shoppe continues to operate out of its Long Street premises (opposite the Knysna Primary School) under the control of our Manager Maria Borchards who was a founding staff. Today together with her assistant Berlyne September and a team of active and committed volunteers they are taking turnover to every increasing heights with March 2007 being the best month ever!
The Shoppe's revenue is generated by the sale of goods donated by the community and the hiring out of cutlery and crockery for social events. In this way the Shoppe not only offers the community an opportunity to dispose of unwanted or infrequently used goods in the knowledge that the income allows Hospice to continue to provide free palliative care to the residents of Knysna and Sedgefield.
So please remember when you are moving house, spring-cleaning or changing your wardrobe for the new season that we would be extremely grateful to receive donations of any goods in saleable condition for sale through the Shoppe.
We wish to sincerely thank all those who have donated goods over the years to the Shoppe without your contributions Hospice would have great difficulty in meeting the needs of our community. Finally, a special thank-you to Peter Marais and his team of volunteers, who give so generously of their time to assist in the Shoppe. Should any reader wish to join this band of volunteer's please phone Annie 044 384 0593 for more details. The duties are not onerous but enable you to put something back into the local community.
MY VILLAGE CARD
Why not get a "My Village/Woolworths" card and nominate Hospice Knysna as the beneficiary.
This is not a credit/debit card, but merely tells the shop assistant that you are a supporter of Hospice Knysna and they will then allocate a small percentage of your purchase to Hospice.
There is NO cost or any other obligation to you in having one of these cards - only a benefit to Hospice Knysna.
The card can be used at Woolworths, Waltons, Bargain Books, Building Express and many shops country-wide.
You can pick up an application form from Woolworths or phone Annie at Hospice on 044 384 0593. Complete the form and either post or drop off at Woolworths or B.O.N.D House, Hunters Home or at the Hospice Shoppe in Long Street and we will arrange for a card to be issued.
HOSPICE DONOR CLUB
Winners in the Cctober - December 2006 draw were:
| First Prize |
Barry Giggins |
R4000.00 |
| Second Prize |
Edna Reinders |
R1800.00 |
| Third Prize |
F. Diamond |
R1100.00 |
Winners in the January - March 2007 draw were:
| First Prize |
Lynne Barnhoorn |
R4500.00 |
| Second Prize |
Barbara Bunting |
R1900.00 |
| Third Prize |
Robert Clark |
R1100.00 |
WHY NOT PUT R50 TO " GOOD " USE ONCE A MONTH AND JOIN THE HOSPICE DONOR CLUB
A FIFTY RAND NOTE!
It can buy:
Fish & chips - A pot plant - Cappuccino for you and a friend
OR
It can be a monthly contribution to the Hospice Donor Club
Help Hospice care for over 250 patients a month
Give you a chance in our quarterly optional draw!
(Tax benefits)
To find out more phone Annie on 044-384-0593
KNYSNA MOTOR SHOW
The Show this year is scheduled for SATURDAY 29th SEPTEMBER.
Should you wish to participate by exhibiting any old or exotic car, please contact the organiser.
Any commercial enterprise wishing to promote new cars/bikes/boats or other motor trade related products are also invited to contact the organiser for details.
Organiser: E-mail - barrygig@telkomsa.net or 082-939-2250
IN YOUR NAME!
There is a growing trend in Knysna for individuals who are having a special celebration, such as a 60th birthday party or anniversary, to say to their invited guests:
"Please don't bring a present, but rather make a donation to …"
We have been the beneficiaries of a number of such generous and thoughtful birthday celebrators, including on one occasion the birthday party of two pugs!
So that the giver can have a something physical to hand over to the person in whose name the donation is made Penny Mainwaring has designed a really beautiful "gift vouchers" These will be given to those who make the donations. Of course these may be appropriate to mark more serious occasions such as memorial services. Supplies of these will be available from BOND House by the end of May. We hope this will add something really special to the act of giving in someone else's name.
CATCH THEM YOUNG AND KEEP THEM LONG
By Annie Ogilvie
Quite a slogan - but what a privilege and tribute to pay to our many and faithful volunteers! From 15 - 92 in age!! They are old and young, tall and short, robust and slim, of many language, colour and creed and the backbone of our service!! Without our volunteers we would not exist. Come to Hospice any day of the week and you are sure to bump into one of them planting vegetables in the garden, washing up cups in the kitchen, dropping off soup and sandwiches for our Day Care, driving a Hospice vehicle to fetch our patients from out of town, pushing the children on a swing, collecting tins for street collection, counting the thousands of coins. Wow! The jobs are endless, but the labourers are many and willing AND there is ALWAYS room for one more! Others come to play the guitar and share a hymn and a prayer, some come to adjust computers, hang a picture, fix a tap or just for a chat. We have shop keepers marking and selling second hand goods - catering folk who bring a tasty snack for many a different occasion. Then there are 'fundraisers' - that rare group of people who make our hair stand on end as they meet monthly to organise Bridge Days and Ballet, Book Sales and Golf Days, Raffles and Street Collections, Remembrance Days and Car Shows. We have Day Care volunteers who knit and sew, play dominoes and paint, and more than that lend a listening ear and a gentle touch to our Day Care patients every Tuesday morning. We have caterers and flower arrangers, fill in receptionists and typists, caregivers and counsellors, physio and occupational therapists and, and and . . . I know I have forgotten many! Oh yes! We also have executive volunteers - those excellent, educated and 'elderly' retired who have travelled the road of success in business careers and now offer themselves fully on a voluntary basis in top positions!
And why do we have so many volunteers? Because we want to offer the most holistic and the best care possible to ALL our patients.
If you would like to find out more about becoming a Hospice volunteer, I would be delighted to meet you, show you around Hospice, introduce you to some of our patients and share Hospice life with you more fully! Please phone me - Annie, on 044-384-0593. You too can become and integral and valued participant in our Knysna Hospice organisation!
VOLUNTEERS! WE SALUTE YOU AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE
OUR VOLUNTEERS
Gert Sumner sorting out Christmas Cards |
Joash Mangiza & Nick Gilmore, our Hospice Drivers.
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Judi Kent & Jacob Leo
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Maren Seydach our youngest volunteer of 15 yrs with Katrina our oldest patient.
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Lexie Elliot aged 93.25 entertains our Day
Care patients with her piano accordion!
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Hands that support each other at Hospice
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Carol Kennedy tends our own brinjals & peppadews!
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WHO CARES FOR THE CARERS?
Caring for terminally ill people day in a day out can be emotionally draining. If our staff and volunteers, who do this work, are to continue to do this with enthusiasm and compassion, they too need to be cared for. Michelle has recently concluded an agreement with a donor who is going to assist us to provide more extensive Care-for-Carer support as well as engage two highly skilled researchers to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of what we do in this area.
The programme will last 2 years, accommodate up to 45 carers and allow us to offer not only better counselling support, but also explore some alternative approaches. We are told that that this will be the first serious research project in this area. So it looks like we are doing pioneering work that could benefit hospices nation wide.
Congratulations to Michelle and thanks to the donor the Isisombululo Programme.
"TRAIN THE TRAINER WORKSHOP"
by Helen Lever
How do you get learners to participate in their learning?
What makes people remember what they have learnt for more than a day?
When does learning become fun as opposed to a drag and something someone else said is good for you?
These were only three of the questions participants had at the start of the Train the Trainer workshop facilitated by Dr Debbie Norval at B.O.N.D House in February and March. The workshop was attended by eight participants involved in different ways in training at Hospice.
The very core of the workshop and what was illustrated over and over again is that for proper learning to occur learners need to hear the material, they need to have it reinforced visually and they need to participate in the learning process.
From the first day and learning how to write aims and objectives for a course (among many other things), the course built up to the fifth day when each learner had to present a twenty minute lesson they had prepared to the rest of the group for assessment.
After much laughter, creativity, frustration and anxiety the course was completed with great success and the training team is now substantially better equipped to deliver meaningful training both within Hospice and out in the community.
So when training, remember the wise words of Confucius, "I hear and I forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand."
SMOKED SALMON, PAP & ST. JOSEPH'S LILIES!!
by Cecily van Heerden
Woolworths have arrived! And I mean this in the literal and not so literal word! Our little town is graced by one of the icons of quality, service, produce, and not least of all - community service. This is where the 'arrival' bit comes in . . . Hospice is one of the chosen charities supported by Woolworths in the form of 'sell by date' foodstuffs.
Monday 27th November, 2006 broke clear and warm. We ascended on the loading bay (feeling like would-be heisters when subjected to stringent security!) and were greeted by food enough to feed Napoleon's army AND the Russians - in other words, several truck loads full - and what's more - graced by 30 bunches of St. Joseph's lilies!
This 'fantasmagoric' vision of food - enough to end world hunger, included stuff to make the biggest health nut drool with lust - for food that is. Whole smoked salmon - chocolate mousse - fresh, succulent fruit and vegetables - thick, juicy, ripe sirloin steaks - double thick Greek yoghurt - crushed garlic, earthy brown mushrooms - bags of washed potatoes - unblemished ripe avocados and, and, and ...
We looked at these several truck loads of seriously nice foodstuffs and thought . . . Smoked Salmon and Pap? Will our 350 patients really appreciate the taste, let alone the irony of it? Can't we just take it home with us and enjoy?
But alas! Decency, loyalty and the girth of our waistlines prevailed, and amidst much chaos, sweat (nearly some tears) the food was put into piles, packed into Pick 'n Pay bags and shipped off to our needy patients who marveled at this gift of unaffordable luxury.
The amount of food and flowers has leveled out as Woolworths management get to know their market - but every week a great variety of food of all colours and taste are gleefully received by smiling patients, and they delight in sampling new things that they have never had the opportunity to eat before.
B.O.N.D House Hospice Staff also learnt a seriously important lesson from our patients. What you have never had, can taste like heaven when you do eventually get it!
ARV'S A GIFT BEYOND PRICE
HIV rattles your cage, shakes your foundation and prods your prejudices.
The experience of having an HIV test yourself is a good way to start to try to understand what the patient has to go through. It is an extremely stressful experience for most of us - even those who feel they are not at risk. Most patients who test HIV positive feel as if their life will never be the same again. This is true. It won't.
Working with patients with HIV forces you to examine how you relate to people and why. Bias you didn't know you had, rears its ugly head. I found myself thinking, "you don't look like a patient with HIV," until I forced myself to think about what a patient with HIV DOES look like. The truth is, what they look like, is you and me. Whoever you are: young, old, female, male, childless, many children, heterosexual, gay, a saint, a sinner, you name it - we've seen them all.
For most health care professionals and carers, it is a life-changing event to decide to work with patients and their families who are living with HIV. Of course most health care professionals and carers will find it difficult to avoid working with HIV positive patients and their families, but those who choose to commit themselves to this work, are in for a wild, intense ride.
HIV makes you think about yourself, your own life and those around you that you care about. It makes you examine your relationships with everyone: your husband/wife, parents, grandparents, siblings, coworkers and children; and imagine how you would tell each of those groups of people if you were HIV positive, and how you would support them if they told you.
Of course antiretroviral medication has revolutionized the care of patients with HIV/AIDs. Before ARVs, palliative care was all that could be offered. Now, most people can be restored to health. Patients do still die eventually, but usually with dignity, with their disease called by its name, and amongst those who accept and care for them. HIV/AIDs has taught me that the universe has a rhythm of its own, that not all outcomes can be predicted and that God is in control over all.
For most carers, especially in an area of work with such intense highs and lows, it is difficult to switch off caring when you finish work. For many of us, our patients are never far from our thoughts (even our dreams). For many carers, their clients are their neighbors, friends, co-workers or family members. This brings a particular stress to life.
There is also another side to this. I see our patients wherever I go, and there is a particular joy in seeing patients at work, shopping or at school events - alive and well, healthy and happy and just going about their daily business- Living positively with HIV. It a privilege to be part of that.
Dr Laurel Giddy - Head of the ARV Clinic in Knysna
"The clinic opened its doors in late 2004 with 20 patients. Today it cares for nearly 500 patients including 30 children."
NEWS FROM SEDGEFIELD
The past eight months (since our AGM and the election of a new Committee) have been pretty busy, here in Sedgefield.
With a dedicated team, our many Volunteers and our local Community who are fantastic and always very supportive of any Hospice events taking place, we have had a successful fund-raising time.
The Hospice Shoppe has been steadily increasing its' income and in January this year, showed the highest turnover ever! This would not have been possible without our Shoppe Volunteers and the many people who donated their unwanted goods.
With the premises being flooded in February 2006, it took many months before the walls actually dried out, thus preventing normal operation of our business.
However, we do have a determined team of Volunteers and 'where there's a will there's a way' . . . so, whenever the weather was favourable, "morning markets" were held in the gardens which attracted many new shoppers.
Our Fashion/Fun Show (which has been operating for a number of years and which is our single largest annual event) gave us the best ever income.
During the year, we had our 300 Club and Raffles running smoothly .
We held Cake Sales and provided Teas at some of the local events in Sedgefield.
Our reconditioned Christmas Card Sales gave us bumper returns.
We hosted a Ladies Luncheon to promote Hospice and there were also a few minor fund raising events.
From October, we will have a beautiful hand-made queen size quilt to raffle.
This has been generously donated by the 'Sedgefield Quilters.'
With the assistance of our Knysna branch, we hope to really swell our fund-raising kitty.
We always welcome new Members to our group.
Our contact Numbers are: Lyn: 044 343 1784 & Clare: 044 343 2125
A Volunteer Services Programme
In the last Newsletter, Michelle reported that Hospice had received full accreditation by the Council of Health Services Accreditation of South Africa (COHSASA). Accreditation is designed to ensure high quality and safe working contributions from all who work for Hospice, including one of our most valuable assets - our loyal army of volunteers.
Including volunteers is a main focus of the new "Volunteer Services Programme" that we launch this year. It's purpose is to help us ensure that each volunteer is utilized in a way:
- That is satisfying and fulfilling to the individual
- That the roles are clearly defined and agreed to
- That helps us retain our accreditation
- And helps us to continue improving the services that we offer to our community
Judy Kent has be asked to lead this initiative and says "I am delighted that Hospice has asked me to help them in this venture and as a first stage I am setting down the Hospice policies and procedures for volunteers. When this stage has been completed I will be moving on to the Volunteer Service Programme itself. To do this I will be seeking assistance from staff and volunteers so that they may directly influence how things may be improved in their area of work."
Thanks Judy we are delighted that you will be leading us in this area.
We wish to acknowledge the support we receive from many generous organisations. These include the Community Chest (Western Cape), LOTTO, Western Cape Department of Health in partnership with the European Union as well as USA President's Emergency Relief Fund and the Canadian International Development Agency via the Hospice Palliative Care Association of SA and many others.
COLLECTION TINS
A big thank you to all the shops, retailers and the public of Knysna who support our Collection Tins so generously. R15 000 was raised last year.
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