Following a difficult year for the Day Services Unit at the Hospice, staff and volunteers are descending on the local community to ensure that they can support their patients in the run up to Christmas. At a time where the Day Unit would be full of patients, the Hospice nurses have had to adapt to a new way of supporting their patients during the pandemic.
The Hospice received funding of £3,750 earlier in the year from the West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner Community Initiative Fund. This money has been used to provide other care package deliveries to patients over lockdown. These Christmas care package deliveries will be our biggest one yet, with help from Hospice staff and volunteers alike.
Over 120 dinners will be delivered to both the patients and their relatives, along with some little gifts that have been donated by a Hospice volunteer. Ham Dingle Primary School have put together and donated care packages for each of the patients, including Christmas cards and sweet treats. All of these will be delivered in Christmas bags that were made by Dudley Scrubs and the delicious dinners have been made by The Deli in The Village, Hagley.
Earlier in the year, the Hospice received a grant to enable people who do not have access to the internet to join in with Zoom meetings organised by the Hospice on handheld 4G tablets. These tablets will be used on Wednesday 17th December by the Carers for the annual Carers Christmas party, ensuring everyone can be involved in the festive fun!
The Hospice’s Spiritual Care Coordinator, Keith Judson has put together a Christmas service that includes Hospice staff singing carols. The funding has also been used to purchase memory sticks which include a pantomime and message from Santa Claus himself. There is also a message from the Queen! (Well, the CEO of the Hospice, Claire Towns, but don’t tell anyone else that!) and a tribute to the Christmas classic ‘Love actually’. The bags will include a hand-written Christmas card for each of the patients and families, written by the Day Services nurses.
Ruth Davies, Day Services Unit Sister at Mary Stevens Hospice said:
“This will be our final delivery of care packages for the year and is such a feel-good thing for us, the patients and families as we usually are able to celebrate with a party in the Hospice itself.”
Staff and volunteers will be leaving the Hospice each day so that the dinners can be eaten warm.