Saint Francis Hospice featured on Channel 5 news
We received some fantastic coverage in the national media when Channel 5 aired a news feature on Wednesday, 16th February, putting the spotlight on the enormous contribution volunteers bring to Saint Francis Hospice.
Channel 5 presenter Simon Vigar visited the hospice on Thursday, 10th February and spoke with our medical director Dr Corinna Midgley, along with patients and volunteers about the impact of the pandemic on hospice services, funding and why volunteers are so vital to the hospice.
Peter Smith has been volunteering every week on the ward for the past 3 years.
"There's a lot of sadness in a place like this but there's also a great amount of joy," said Peter.
How the Hospice makes a difference
"Our role as volunteers is to help make sure we make the environment as happy and as full of kindness as we can."
Beryl, who was admitted to the ward for pain management, became emotional as she told Channel 5, "You are a person in here. You are not just stuck here. I feel the benefit of being here. Even though they haven't given me a lot of treatment, they are trying."
Her experience on the ward has been so positive that Beryl told the news team that she intends to leave a legacy to the charity.
"I know when I die, my boys have strict instructions to look after this place first...That's the truth...Leave it to these people."
Impact of volunteer support
Corinna paid tribute to our incredible volunteers, saying, "We couldn't do what we do without our volunteers. Our staff are crucial, of course, but our volunteers add a richness, a quality and an additional power to the workforce that we couldn't do without. They save us about a £1m a year with what they raise charitably and with what they do."
Corinna also highlighted how our retail shops have been the hardest hit as almost a half of our shop volunteers haven't come back. This has resulted in shops having to close at short notice and a loss of vital income which is desperately needed to fund care and support services.
"We are really dependant on volunteers for our shops," said Corinna.
"Most of our workforce in our shops is volunteers with just a little bit of funded staff managerial support so the loss of a good proportion of volunteers in shops has been a really big hit."
"Volunteering is so rewarding"
Volunteer sonographer Jo Eastman, has been doing ultrasound scans at the hospice for 8 and a half years. She said her role was incredibly rewarding and called on local people to get involved by giving the gift of their time, skills and experience.
"Do what you can," said Jo.
"I get so much out of it. For me, it is my day job and something I do in my spare time as well. But for me, it is so rewarding. It is about what you can do and how you can help other people, because you really can make such a difference."
Volunteer for the Hospice
If you would like to become a volunteer, and help us make a real difference to thousands of people with incurable conditions locally, then click here to find out more and sign up.
