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Issue 31
13
| September 2022
|
A Day in the Life!
Ayrshire Hospice in the community
“I wanted to know more, so that I could be doing more…”
By Miriam Godfrey, Living Well Community Nurse
on to become a Charge Nurse on the ward. I was then given the opportunity to work within Day Services at the Hospice. This has since developed into the Community Nurse role within the Living Well Hub. Within this role I help deliver a wellbeing program to people and their families attending the Living Well Hub at Centrestage, Kilmarnock. People living with life-limiting illness can self-refer or be referred by a health care professional to the Living Well Hub. The sessions start with short talk related to living well, for example eating well, planning well, talking well, coping well. There is then time for peer support, art or complementary therapy. If more support is needed, the person is referred or signposted to another service. I also support people by telephone, and online. These services aim to empower and enable people to live as well as possible with a life-limiting illness. Often people think that the Hospice is only for people at the end of life, but that is not the case. The Living Well Hub aims to break this stigma and to build relationships for the future and preventing crises occurring.
Ayrshire Hospice Living Well Hub has a new home while refurbishment work is carried out on site in Ayr and you can find the new service at the fantastic CentreStage in Kilmarnock. The Living Well Hub operates two days a week currently
I love what I do but my career wasn’t planned. I had no 5- or 10-year plan. It just evolved.
I completed my nurse training in Leeds in 1993
had a growing frustration that I wanted to know more about what I could be doing to ensure people were as comfortable and settled as possible at the end of their life. I saw a job advertised for Ayrshire Hospice and applied. I really enjoyed working as Staff Nurse on the ward and learnt lots from the other staff. After working on the ward for eight years I went
the Living Well Hub patients took part in the 'Stride Your Way to 100k' challenge as a group and collectively walked a brilliant total of 316km and raised £2,552.60 from their efforts. Involvement in challenges such as Stride Your Way to 100K have provided motivation and
and moved to Scotland. My first job was working as staff nurse with the district nursing service in Cumnock, East Ayrshire. My biggest hurdle was the language barrier! After finishing a wound dressing one lady advised me I could get a ‘poke in the press’, but I had no idea this meant there was a bag for the rubbish in the hall cupboard. It was a great few years and I
for two hours each day and offers an eight-week programme looking at living well for you and family. A social and informative session, patients and their carers can also access Complementary Therapy and peer support. Activities include facilitated chats and discussions on a range of subjects and art sessions with our volunteer, George. The Hub offers a worthwhile support network where you can share stories and experiences, make new friends and work to achieve goals and targets. Recently
enjoyed being a guest in people’s homes, providing nursing support to people and their families. After having my daughter, I started working on the overnight nursing service across Ayrshire. People needing the district service overnight tended to be approaching end of life or had problems with catheters. I found I enjoyed
purpose, something which was warmly welcomed and enjoyed by the group. If you, or someone you know is living with a life- limiting illness and would be interested in learning more
about the Living Well Hub, you can complete a short self-referral form at www. ayrshirehospice.org or telephone 01292 269 200 .
supporting people and
their families at the end of life, however I
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