Beaumond House Community Hospice is appealing for support from the community so it can continue to provide its vital services during the Coronavirus crisis
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Head of clinical services; Louise Sinclair said the main priority at the hospice is support, care and safety of its patients and those who depend on its’ service and the wellbeing of the staff and volunteers.
“It is so important that people keep supporting Beaumond House Community Hospice at this difficult time to ensure we can continue to provide this vital care to those who need us most,” she said.
Louise said our in-patient care is running as usual and Hospice at Home service will continue to provide face to face visits to all who need it but with support over the phone being offered where appropriate.
Bereavement support will continue with telephone support sessions. Welfare rights advice will be offered over the phone or as a home visit.
After careful consideration of the risks coronavirus poses attendance at day therapy has been suspended for the time being as many of the patients are older and have multiple conditions as well as lowered immunity because of their treatment, condition or medication.
Louise said the decision to suspend attendance had not been made lightly because of the concern about the effects on carers and the potential risk of social isolation.
“To continue our support for patients we have a number of alternative ways of staying in touch and offering advice and help,” she said.
“We will be offering telephone support, skype, email and offering extended visits to support carers. This will be personalised to each patient and their care and support needs.”
Visitors to the hospice have been reduced. In-patients can still have visitors but they are being asked to follow strict precautions on hand hygiene and not to enter the building if they have identified symptoms or have been in contact with someone with them.
Louise said the advice was changing all the time.
“We are reviewing the advice from the NHS and Public Health England every day and will adapt to the advice offered,” she said.
Fundraising and marketing manager Cathy Lowe said it costs more than £1m to run its services and Beaumond House needs to raise £640,000 this year from the local community.
The fundraising team are aware that most supporters are having to change plans and cancel planned events. She said that Beaumond House had already seen a huge fall in the footfall to its three shops which generate vital regular income. Because keeping the hospice open at this time is imperative, we need the support of the whole community even more than usual.
Cathy said “The fundraising team are planning creative and innovative ways to encourage everyone to support it in other ways in this challenging environment. These include virtual events and donations in lieu of activities helping us to fill the gap in everyone’s lives. More information will be available through our Facebook, Instagram and Twitter feeds as well on our website.
Louise went on to say; “The service we provide is vital to the local people and their families and we are so grateful to anyone who is able to remember Beaumond House at a time when everyone has so many other priorities.”
“Now more than ever before we need the help and support of our community so we can continue to provide the vital care to our patients and support their friends and relatives. Thank you to everyone who helps make this happen and for your continued generosity. ” said Cathy.
Please DO NOT ENTER the Hospice if you:
Have a high temperature – this means you feel hot to touch on your chest or back (you do to need to measure your temperature)
Have a new, continuous cough- this means coughing a lot for more than an hour or 3 or more coughing episodes in 24 hours (if you usually have a cough, it may be worse than usual)
Use the 111 online coronavirus service to find out what to do
Please contact the Hospice on 01636 610556, email us at info@beaumondhouse.co.uk
Thank you