Many supporters, staff members and others connected to the hospice describe a lifetime of involvement in St Christopher’s. They talk of being pleasantly surprised at the experience of optimism and happiness in their early engagement with the organisation.
This is, for many, a key reason for remaining involved and inviting additional connection on the part of family members and others. For others, remaining involved for many years is an opportunity to enact their faith or to give back in the light of unexpected kindness they experienced at the hand of the hospice.
For some their connection with the hospice began as children – attending church services, fundraising events, participating in entertainment for patients, then supporting the hospice more formally as a donor or volunteer as they moved into adult life or approached retirement.
For many individuals, their engagement with the hospice as a supporter was interspersed with moments of needing to draw on hospice services and care, either for themselves or on behalf of others close to them. Then, once complete, many returned to a position of donor or supporter, important as an in-memoriam activity.
Similarly individuals who are bereaved of someone under the care of the hospice see that particular ending as simply the start of a longer term relationship with St Christopher’s. Long- term plans to fundraise or volunteer with the hospice are well described in many of the stories.
The changing nature of involvement in the hospice amongst local people is a striking theme. What emerges from the stories is a new social ecological map that describes the relationship between the hospice and people’s physical, interpersonal, health and wellbeing (particularly that related to end of life).
Individuals talk of early fear around the hospice, transformed through connection with it, then a desire that others benefit from such care, achieved through advocacy on their behalf, volunteering at the hospice and shaping services that reflect their experiences.
For many, their engagement has spanned volunteering, a request for care on behalf of themselves or others close to them and even co-delivery of the support that is required where this plays to their strengths.
One contributor talks about attending the hospice as a child through personal connection on the part of her mother, then working as a volunteer on the wards during teenage years before working there as a nurse. She returned to the hospice more than once in the course of her career, before taking skills learnt at the hospice to other institutions and patient groups who could benefit from her knowledge.
In a similar vein, others talk about learning briefly at St Christopher’s as students or professionals early in their career, then returning to use the service in their own right or as a relative of someone else who was dying.
The reassurance of returning to a place known and trusted is a strong theme; the related comfort an important part of the memory.
This is true for staff members also, many of whom talk of a shift in the nature of their connection with the hospice over time. By way of example one nurse talks about coming to the hospice to learn professional skills; then being supported in her personal losses before engaging as a fundraiser on behalf of St Christopher’s.
Another describes involvement in St Christopher’s initially as the relative of someone dying, then as a long-term employee as part of their longer-term plans for a career.
Many have found their way to this work as a result of personal experience of witnessing someone close to them die and related loss early in life. As a consequence, staff who talked about their experience of St Christopher’s often describe a relationship between their personal growth as citizens and family members alongside any professional development.
The generosity of clinical leaders within St Christopher’s has been key to shaping an attitude and confidence that has then allowed individuals to respond to the many challenges of end of life put before them – spanning personal, professional and civic responsibilities.
Staff members repeatedly confirm how working at St Christopher’s has profoundly impacted their attitude towards life, and their interactions with death and dying. For some, particular individuals in their care can be identified as shaping their whole approach to life.
The way of life offered through connection with St Christopher’s is the subject of many people’s musings, articulated often through writings of their own. People describe keeping detailed diaries, of generating books and poetry as a result of their relationship with the hospice. Many were encouraged to do this by Cicely Saunders and other leaders within the organisation.
There was laughing, there was painting, there was somebody playing a piano. It was lively, it was the complete opposite of what I expected
Elizabeth Kwesiga Social Worker, St Christopher’s Hospice
In 1982 I got married and one of the things that was really exciting was that as well as the church having all the people Robert and I
had invited to our wedding, St Christopher’s drove a big ambulance across… They brought a number of patients as well
Dr Valerie Rowe Former Registrar, St Christopher’s Hospice
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This is the fifth in our serialisation of “Back to the Future – Reflections on an Oral History of St Christopher’s Hospice”
Part I – Introduction
Part II – Being Prepared to be Radical
Part III – Responding to the Experience of Suffering
Part IV – Supporting Innovation
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