Many people think a hospice is a place someone spends their final moments but from the moment you walk into St Catherine’s the overwhelming impression is of life being lived well.
The team at the hospice recognise that people are more than just their illness and help patients make the most of the time they have left – whether that is years, months or weeks.
One of the ways St Catherine’s helps patients live well is through a free, weekly exercise group, known as Movers and Shakers. The group meets at the Crawley hospice on Monday mornings and is run by the physiotherapy team to help patients improve and maintain their balance, strength, stamina and mobility.
Before joining, each patient has a one to one session with a physiotherapist so exercises can be tailored to meet their individual needs.
Collected from their homes by a team of volunteer drivers, many patients meet for a tea or coffee in the St Catherine’s coffee shop before the class and take the chance to catch up with one another.
Movers and Shakers begins with a gentle seated warm up, followed by stretching, before a series of balance exercises help patients work on their upper and lower limb strength.
Following these group exercises, there is chance for each group member to work on specific areas of their own fitness using balance boards, balance balls and steppers with gentle encouragement and one-to-one support from members of the physiotherapy team.
Mavis, a day hospice patient who attends Movers and Shakers, said that the group helped “keep [her] going.”
“Coming here makes you get up and get out rather than staying in bed. The exercises are really good and the teachers are very balanced; they’re really encouraging but not pushy,” she added.
Fellow class member Hilda also enjoys coming to Movers and Shakers each week and regularly energises the group by counting repetitions out loud for their arm exercises. Everyone is particularly fond of her impression of Strictly Come Dancing’s Len Goodman when she enthusiastically shouts: “seven!”
“We all love coming to Movers and Shakers and the ladies who teach us are very good,” she said. “We’re like a happy family, all encouraging each other. St Catherine’s is such a supportive place and I love socialising and getting to know other patients.
“Movers and Shakers helps you get back on your feet and I’ve been getting stronger and stronger since coming. You don’t come to St Catherine’s to die, you come here to live. The place makes you feel alive.”
As well as Movers and Shakers, St Catherine’s is also home to a new physiotherapy gym giving patients the opportunity to exercise with one-to-one support.
Senior physiotherapist Lianne Ferris said: “The physiotherapy gym allows patients to exercise in a controlled environment. It helps them build up their strength and maintain their mobility and independence whilst knowing staff are on hand in case they feel unwell.”
For more information on St Catherine’s and services it provides please visit the hospice website.
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