Community Connections
September is a significant month for hospices in Ireland. Two key events, Palliative Care Week and Bewley’s Big Coffee Morning Social for Hospice, take place this month. Each one in its own way embodies the close ties between our hospices and the communities they serve. St Francis Hospice highly values being part of the community of North Dublin and surrounding counties and our close connections with the people of our community.
Palliative Care Week, which runs from 10th – 16th September this year, is an initiative of the All Ireland Institute for Hospice and Palliative Care (AIIHPC). The aim is to increase public awareness and understanding of palliative care. It is an opportunity for the hospice sector to share the stories of people who have benefited from receiving palliative care.
St Francis Hospice Dublin is honoured this year to share the story of Marian Meehan, who attends our specialist palliative care Outpatients and Day Services (OPDS). Marian has accessed a number of different programmes and courses in the OPDS to help her manage her symptoms and live the best quality of life she can, while still receiving chemotherapy and other hospital-based treatments. In this way, her story represents aspects of hospice care that many people are not aware of and may be surprised to learn.
You can view Marian’s video here to see the impact that hospice care provided by our physiotherapists, occupational therapists, nurses, volunteers, and the entire team has had on her wellbeing and quality of life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64BDnwYlkTI.
Marian’s story is also featured in an Irish Times article by Sheila Wayman: ‘I would be dead now if it hadn’t been for the hospice’ – The Irish Times. Beth Carr, a member of the St Francis Hospice physiotherapy team, provides more information about our unique OPDS model and how it is benefiting patients who continue to live at home.
Bewley’s Big Coffee Morning Social for Hospice, which takes place on Thursday 21st September this year, is an important fundraising event for hospice. While it is organised on a national level by Together for Hospice, and kindly supported by Bewley’s, every euro raised locally stays local, helping to support the hospice or palliative care service within the donor’s community.
We in St Francis Hospice Dublin greatly appreciate the fantastic support of our community in raising funds and awareness during each annual Coffee Morning campaign. This year, we are delighted to see the recognition that Carol Collins is receiving for her extraordinary efforts preparing cakes, tarts, soups and jams for Coffee Morning from her own organic produce. Carol, who has raised more than €37,000 for St Francis Hospice over the past eight years, begins making and freezing the items months in advance of Coffee Morning. Raising money in this way has personal significance for Carol, as three of her friends have received hospice care in recent years. https://www.independent.ie/regionals/dublin/dublin-news/dublin-grandmother-bakes-400-cakes-and-raffles-diamond-ring-in-aid-of-hospice-care/a1213617495.html]
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Another inspirational figure is this year’s St Francis Hospice Hero, Dympna Pyne, pictured below with Coffee Morning Ambassador Domhnall Gleeson. Dympna began hosting an annual Coffee Morning 9 years ago in memory of her friend Pauline, who received care from St Francis Hospice. This community event in North County Dublin is an opportunity to honour Pauline’s memory and to raise vital funds to enable St Francis Hospice to continue to innovate and expand to meet the needs of our growing community.
Both Carol and Dympna go far beyond the extra mile in support of St Francis Hospice. The support we receive from them and all members of our community enables St Francis Hospice to go the extra mile for our patients and their families.?
St Francis Hospice grew from humble roots with the constant support of our community in North Dublin and the surrounding counties. Now, as the hospice approaches its 35th anniversary, our staff and volunteers care for nearly 2,000 patients and their families and friends each year in the community and in our two hospices in Raheny and Blanchardstown.
Thank you to each and every person who contributes their time, makes a donation, or helps raise awareness about the hospice in their community. St Francis Hospice is truly a voluntary organisation of, by and for the community it serves.
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