Katie Costello is a Nursing Assistant in the Practical Care Team at St Catherine's Hospice in Crawley. This Dying Matters Awareness Week, she wanted to share this open letter with you all.
Hi everybody,
I hope you're all keeping safe and well.
My name's Katie. I'm a Nursing Assistant at St Catherine's Hospice working as part of the Community Team which means I provide care to terminally ill people and their family and friends across our community in the comfort of their own homes. Every year, my colleagues and I provide care and support to around 2,100 local people facing death and bereavement.
Coronavirus has made our roles tough to say the least. Patients and their families often look to us for answers, but in these uncertain times we can't always give the answers they need. We can't tell anyone how long this is going to go on for, or how long people will have to be away from their families and friends, from their usual routines, and life as they usually know it.
That's really, really hard.
We all love our jobs, and we're all committed to continuing to do everything we possibly can for all those who need us. We're still providing care to people in the comfort of their own homes and on our wards, and for our Living Well Centres, which we've temporarily had to close, we're providing support virtually, offering exercise, music, meditation and wellbeing resources online. We've also set up a Telephone Buddy system for our patients and their carers, where they can sign up to have a social call with one of our amazing volunteers. So even for those people we can't see physically right now, we're still very much in touch, and very much there for them.
But working alongside this virus is tough, there's no other word for it. It's challenging, and sometimes stressful, but the love that we have for the people we care for and for our job is what keeps us going.
We're used to every day being different at the hospice, and that's much the same now - every day is challenging in its own way. It's a constant moving ship, as it is everywhere, and it's affecting every department. We've had to put movement zones in at the hospice, social distancing means we can't provide all our care in our usual ways, and we're missing more than 1,200 volunteers, who've we had to temporarily stand down for their safety.
The people we care for are at the heart of every decision we make though, and even though it can feel tough some days trying to keep on top of all the changes, we have a lot of support from our Senior Management Team and we know every change is necessary to keep our patients and their families safe, and to keep ourselves and our colleagues safe.
With everything going on, you may have felt worried yourself. I have too, it's only natural, but I push my worries aside to come to work because that's what I signed up to do when I became a Nursing Assistant - to be there, caring for people, no matter what.
The pandemic has certainly made our entire team think about things and we've all learnt so much throughout all of this. We're learning a lot about ourselves as individuals and how we handle situations, and I think we're learning how tough we can be, with whatever things are thrown at us each day. We're certainly learning how to handle new things!
So much has changed in the last couple of months, but what's never changed is the commitment we all have to our patients, and to making sure we're still giving the best possible end of life care that we can.
It's hard because things like the masks we now need to wear, create a barrier between us and the people we're looking after. When somebody is scared, angry, or upset, they look to us for reassurance, for advice or guidance, or for love, compassion and care - sometimes all three! When they can't see half of our faces that becomes more challenging, but we're working doubly hard to make sure everybody feels that same level of connection and that same level of support from us. We'll continue to do that, whatever this crisis throws at us.
Although there are hard days, we're experiencing huge amounts of gratitude all round too. We're feeling thankful for ourselves and our own health, and we're feeling overwhelmed with the love and support our hospice has had.
The support really does keep us going, and knowing you're all there alongside us means so much.
We've had amazing support out on visits too. On my last visit, a gentleman at the petrol station said well done, keep up the good work, and we even had a round of applause out the front of someone's house the other day - that was so kind.
People's generosity and support for our team and the hospice has been unbelievable.
It's strengthened us through some challenging weeks and helped us through our hardest days.
It's made us stop and smile when we're really tired and need a break.
And we're incredibly grateful to you all.
Despite the financial uncertainty for so many people at the moment, people continue to support St Catherine's and this generosity has made a big difference.
Donations, whether that be physical things like PPE, cakes and chocolates, or money which allows us to keep doing our jobs, it's all heartwarming. It's magic really, to think of how kind, how considerate and how loving everybody is being, despite everything that they're going through themselves.
We want you to know that we're staying positive at St Catherine's. We're still here for the people who need our care, in the community and on our ward, and we'll continue to do our jobs to the absolute best of our ability, whatever this virus throws at us.
A huge amount of love and thanks to you all for your continued support. It's hugely appreciated by every single one of us here at the hospice, especially in these challenging times. Thank you for standing beside St Catherine's, thank you for showing us how much you care, and thank you for all your well wishes. Please continue with your support because we absolutely need it. We wouldn't be here without you.
Many, many thanks and lots of love, Katie
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ba11zvszoy0p4qi/AABCA2YA-Bc7DkH_O77zgatJa?dl=0&preview=Katie+Costello.MP4
To make a donation to support Katie and her colleagues to provide expert hospice care to people in your community please visit: www.stch.org.uk/BeThere or call St Catherine's Supporter Care Team on 01293 447361. Thank you.