News

In 2019 our Hospice@Home team delivered 19,432 hours of care to 120 patients. But what is Hospice@Home? And how has it worked during the trying times of the COVID-19 pandemic? We chat to Hospice@Home Coordinator Jean Kelly.

‍Asha was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, during the civil war. After escaping and starting a new life for her children in Tanzania, Asha travelled to England to find work. After a lifetime of taking care of others, Asha came to our Hospice in 2014 with a life-limiting illness.

Grief Kid is an illustrator who expresses the difficult emotions of bereavement through art. Having seen two relatives pass away while in the care of our Hospice, Grief Kid knows the importance of listening, being heard and having a holistic approach towards dealing with the loss of a loved one.

Our Reiki Therapist Julia has been working for the Hospice for nearly 20 years and was the person responsible for introducing the practice to our Hospice. Julia tells us the benefits of what a complementary therapy such as Reiki can have for our patients.

For more than 30 years our Inpatient Unit has served the population of 7 London boroughs and embraced those who are living with and dying from terminal illness. Now it is time for an upgrade to ensure that our facilities can keep up with the changing and complex needs of our patients.

On the 22nd of May 2020 St John’s Hospice hosted a very special day. A day filled with love, friendship and happiness. The day in question was the marriage of Hospice patient Caroline to her partner of 35 years, Mike.

Today dogs, and pets more generally, are being used therapeutically to help improve people’s wellbeing and Therapaws is just one such programme doing amazing work in this area.

T‍his Volunteers' week, Sophie Gray, our Community Fundraising and Volunteering Coordinator speaks to us about a new Befriender scheme she has created to ensure our patients are always being looked after, especially during this difficult time of COVID-19.

As part of the wide-ranging refurbishment of St John & St Elizabeth Hospital, St John’s Hospice Inpatient Unit (IPU) is in line for a major refresh that will make it both more comfortable and more advanced in its provision of palliative care.‍ We caught up with Steve Kimp, our Director of Projects, to hear about the vision for the new IPU.