New year, new you, the Irish Hospice Foundation has the challenge for you!
This year, our Cycle Challenge will take place at the end of June across the stunning landscape of Northern Italy while our Camino Challenge will take place in Portugal in September.
Why not get on your bike and or dust off your walking shoes and take on the challenge to raise funds for the Irish Hospice Foundation!
For more details and to register you interest, go here: https://bit.ly/36RvWgY
Answer our call!
Join in the excitement kicking off in Japan during the World Cup (Sept 20th – Nov 2nd) by hosting a Big Rugby Brunch for The Irish Hospice Foundation.
The matches will be shown during the mornings, so why not organise a brunch for family, friends and colleagues either at home, at your local club or even at work?
Simply ask your brunch guests to give a donation in lieu of a cuppa and a bite to eat.
To join the scrum and raise money for those facing dying, death and bereavement in Ireland, go here. We’ll send you out your very own Big Rugby Brunch Fundraising Pack!
Sports journalist and former professional cyclist Paul Kimmage is calling on cycling enthusiasts nationwide to join him and his daughter Evelyn on the CSI: Cycle for Care in aid of the Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF) this June. The duo will lead the way, covering 600km across the stunning landscapes of Croatia, Slovenia and Italy in just 5 days. They will be pedalling for the IHF’s Nurses for Night Care service, which provides care to people in their own homes at the end of life right around the country. This is a fantastic way to challenge yourself and see the beautiful mountains and beaches of Croatia, Slovenia and Italy. Starting in Piran and staying in picturesque towns along the way to Trieste, you will be supported throughout your journey by the IHF team. Flights, accommodation and full board are included and full details can be found here or by calling 01 6793188. Registration closes Friday 16 March. Read more here.
Make every step count for hospice care this September by walking the Camino de Santiago with actress Katherine Lynch in aid of the Irish Hospice Foundation (IHF).
The Leitrim-native will walk the scenic coasts of Portugal and northern Spain to support hospice care and IHF programmes such as Nurses for Night Care and Hospice Friendly Hospital Programme (HFH).
Katherine’s idonate link if you wish to support is here.
The IHF event takes place from September 24th to 1st October taking in beaches, rolling hills and gentle, flat paths with walking distances of approximately 20km daily. This section of the Camino is located in the region of Galicia – a region also known as the ‘Ireland of Spain’.
Helen McVeigh, IHF Director of Fundraising, commented: “By stepping out on the Camino you are embarking on a personal challenge but also supporting people nationwide who are facing death or bereavement. Our vision is for no one to face these difficult times without the care and support they need. This is your chance to make every step matter.
Katherine is an amazing ambassador and we’re delighted to have such a high profile personality leading the way. Nurses for Night Care service provided 2,027 nights of care in 2016 and helped 600 families. 48 hospitals have been involved in our HFH programme since it was founded 10 years ago.”
We would really like to thank Bon Secours Health System for their very generous donation of €5,000. This donation will certainly be a huge help funding our “Nurses for Night Care” Programme.
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.
