Posts Tagged ‘End-of-life care’
Vibrant ‘Tree of Life’ unveiled at the Mater Hospital
A ‘Tree of Life’ has been unveiled in the heart of the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital to celebrate their work to improve end-of-life care.
The giant artwork was lovingly created to celebrate the Hospice Friendly Hospitals’ 10th Anniversary by over 300 staff, patients and their families.
Each ‘leaf’ on the ‘tree of life’ is unique, some people memorialised a family member or friend who died, others it was handprints and thumbs up for good end-of-life care.
Mater End-of-Life Care Coordinator Diarmuid Ó Coimín: “These works of art were created on October 5 over coffee and cakes. The response was overwhelming. We expected 150-250 but within an hour over 300 people had created their own piece. We are truly delighted with the feedback and support of patients, staff and their families creating well-deserved awareness for the Hospice Friendly Hospital programme. In turn, improved patient care will be delivered as result of this engagement
Special tribute was also paid to Eavan McSweeney, Senior Speech and Language Therapist and Artist John Nolan who compiled the unique art piece.
The celebrations are part of the 10th anniversary of the Irish Hospice Foundation’s (IHF) Hospice Friendly Hospital (HFH) programme, which seeks to ensure that end-of-life, palliative and bereavement care are central to the everyday business of hospitals.
To mark the occasion, the IHF launched the special Hospice Friendly Hospitals 10th Anniversary Grants to celebrate the work and progress achieved across the ever-growing network of hospitals under its remit since being established in 2007.
Grants totalling €10,000 were awarded to hospitals nationwide, with HFH End-of-Life Care coordinators organising workshops for staff, patients and their families, hosting special awareness days and coffee mornings, publishing new multilingual information leaflets etc. To find out more about our Hospice Friendly Hospitals programme, click here.
The IHF receives core funding from Pobal from the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government’s Scheme to Support National Organisations 2016-2019.
Public Enables 600 People to Die at Home in 2016 through our Nurses for Night Care
SIX hundred people with diseases other than cancer who were approaching death last year had their wish to die at home fulfilled with the support of Nurses for Night Care.
The nationwide service supported by the Irish Hospice Foundation through donations from the public provides free night nursing care to people in their own home. Nurses stay throughout the night providing comfort and practical support to patients and their families.
Retired pharmacist and mother of five Mona O’Riordan died peacefully at home with her daughter Aine by her side. Mona, originally a native of Birr, worked in her Dublin pharmacy until the age of 78 and was 92 when she died.
Aine said the family was “lucky” to make it possible for them to fulfil their mother’s expressed wish to die at home. “She had a really good life and a really good death, in her own bed, in her own home. You couldn’t ask for better than that.”
“I’m not a nurse and I’d never been present at this stage of someone’s life before. The nurse was wonderful; from the moment she arrived she could not have been better. We knew she was going to mind our mother from a medical point of view but she also minded us.
“We obviously miss her, but when you feel it couldn’t have gone any better that makes a real difference,” she said.
Caption: The late Mona O’Riordan with family. Retired pharmacist and mother of five, Mona died peacefully at home with her daughter Aine by her side helped by the Nurses for Night Care service.
Marie Lynch, IHF Head of Healthcare Programmes, said: “Three quarters of Irish people would like to die at home, according to IHF research but only approximately one in four get to do so. Support from Nurses for Night Care enables people to die at home if that is their wish. 70% of people die from non-cancer illnesses every year such as dementia, heart disease, motor neurone disease, advanced respiratory disease and end stage kidney disease.
Demand for the service grows annually. We provided 100 nights of care when launched the service 11 years ago. That number grew to 2,027 nights in 2016 costing €649,171. Care was delivered in 26 counties across Ireland and we are so very grateful to everyone who donated to make this difference. Referrals are made by the Specialist Palliative Care home care team to us and it is then arranged for a nurse to visit the home,” concluded Ms Lynch.
The IHF has an agreement with the Irish Cancer Society to provide the service.
The IHF receives core funding from Pobal from the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government’s Scheme to Support National Organisations 2016-2019.
