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A wall of personal stories told by patients and their family members will go on display at a local hospice to mark a national awareness week.
East Lancashire Hospice will for the first time put on show stories directly from patients and their families about the positive impact the hospice has had on them.
Hospice Care Week which runs from Monday 5 to Sunday 11 October is a national initiative to promote the services offered by hospice care.
The theme for Hospice Care Week this year is Connecting Care and in order to connect individuals with hospice services they may not know about, staff from the hospice will be going on the road to different locations to talk to groups and individuals to bust popular myths and explain the many different ways that the hospice can help those with life-limiting illnesses.
Kimberley Hall from the marketing team said the awareness week is a good opportunity to explain the work of the hospice: “There are many misconceptions about hospice care. Some believe it is only for older people, but we have patients from the age of 18 upwards. Others think cancer is the only illness we care for. But we look after patients with a range of life-limiting illnesses, some are more familiar like MS, Parkinson’s or COPD, and others are rare illnesses that our staff take specialist advice on dealing with. Lots of people are put off when they hear the word hospice, but everyone who walks through the doors for the first time is surprised when they see what it is really like. It’s actually a happy and uplifting place. The view that hospices are only places that offer end of life care is an outdated one. There are many groups, clinics and services that are offered to individuals including complementary therapy and bereavement support. Hospice Care Week is the perfect opportunity for us to get these messages across to people who may not know anything about the hospice with clinical staff attending to answer any questions.”
Hospice representatives will be at the following locations:
Monday 5: Clitheroe Community Hospital and Accrington Victoria Hospital
Tuesday 6: Older people’s event at Christ Church, Mosley Street, Blackburn
Wednesday 7: Darwen Health Centre and Oswaldtwistle Rainbows
Thursday 8: Ivy St Community Centre Parents and Tots and Kingsway Carers Group
Friday 9: Parents Carers Support Group, Barbara Castle Way Health Centre
For more information or to arrange a talk or tour of the hospice, please call 01254 287012.