What Matters to You Matters to Us

St Francis Hospice recently had the privilege of hosting the official launch of the national Sunflower Days fundraising campaign at our Blanchardstown hospice. This national campaign, coordinated by Together For Hospice , is one of the most well established annual fundraising events in Ireland and works on the basis that “every euro raised locally stays locally”.

The wonderful Miriam O’Callaghan attended the launch as ambassador for the Sunflower Days campaign. She had an opportunity to meet two patients receiving care in our In-Patient Unit. Following that, in her comments to the assembled guests, she recounted the experience of hospice care described by them both:

“I can’t tell you how much this means for me to be here. Everyone is lovely, nothing is ever too much. They don’t see me as a statistic, they see me as an individual.”

?These sentiments expressed by our patients speak to the heart of what hospice is all about: individualised, compassionate, person-centred care. Palliative care practice involves building connections and nurturing relationships, both among colleagues within the hospice, and between St Francis Hospice and the community we serve, and which so generously supports our work through Sunflower Days and countless other fundraising initiatives.

?With this in mind, St Francis Hospice will once again participate in the Global What Matters to You? Day on Thursday 6th June. As part of this initiative, we will ask our staff, volunteers, contract staff, patients and visitors a simple question, “What matters to you?”

While this question is naturally a part of our interactions with patients and family members within the hospice setting on a daily basis, participating in the worldwide What Matters to You initiative is symbolic of our commitment in St Francis Hospice to understanding and honouring the wishes of our patients and their family members. What matters to our patients and their family members matters to us, and understanding what’s important for people enables us to provide the best quality person-centred care possible.

This commitment to patient-centred care that is fundamental in the hospice setting was reflected in the results of the recent National End of Life Survey, where hospice care was rated favourably compared with other settings. We in St Francis Hospice are proud to model leadership in compassionate, person-centred care, and we continually strive to improve the experiences of our patients and their loved ones.

I frequently pause and take a moment to read through the comments written in our Visitor Books in St Francis Hospice Raheny and Blanchardstown. When I read the following comment recently, I was struck by how extraordinary it was, while at the same time I could see it was typical of the messages left by patients and their family members. It is a privilege to be part of the team providing such meaningful and supportive care.

?Last year, our fundraising team conducted a survey of all our donors to find out what matters to them. One key finding was that their feeling of connectedness to St Francis Hospice was highly significant. Many shared their personal, moving stories of experiencing hospice care.

One way that we try to nurture that connection with members of our community is through offering two annual remembrance events: the Tree of Life at Christmastime, and the Sunflower of Life Reflection in June. These are opportunities for people to remember their loved ones and participate in a communal remembrance with other members of the community and our St Francis Hospice team.

The Sunflower of Life Reflection is a video consisting of beautiful music kindly provided by Brendan Gleeson and his son Fergus, stunning imagery from our Sunflower of Life field in Ballyboughal over the past three summers, reflections and poems offered by our chaplains, social workers and other members of our hospice team. Central to the reflection is a basket of sunflower cards containing the names of all those who are being remembered by members of our community. You can contact our fundraising team on 01 832 7535 to have your loved one’s name included in this year’s reflection.

The St Francis Hospice Sunflower of Life Reflection video will be released on our web site and social media platforms on Thursday 27th June. Later this summer, courtesy of the Hoey and Bergin families in north County Dublin, our Sunflower Field of Life will be open to the public. Check our web site and social media platforms for updates.

?Sunflower Days will be Friday 7th and Saturday 8th June, with collectors on street and in retail centres nationwide. You can find out more and also sponsor a virtual sunflower in memory of someone on www.sunflowerdays.ie, or support St Francis Hospice by making a donation or purchasing sunflower themed products from our online shop.

Thank you to our wonderful community for 35 years of support. Please know that what matters to you truly matters to us, as we strive to grow and improve our services to meet the changing needs of our community.

In the words of Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of the modern hospice movement, "You matter because you are you, and you matter to the end of your life. We will do all we can not only to help you die peacefully, but also to live until you die."

St. Francis Hospice Dublin #WMTY24 #SunflowerDay #TogetherForHospice #Hospice #Community #PalliativeCare

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