Working in a hospice is in equal parts uplifting and draining. I get to work with the most amazing people and then sometimes, sadly, have to say goodbye to them too.
The communications office is directly above the 12 bed ward so on a day-to-day level I could be separated from the heart of our work here at Hospiscare. To make sure I stay connected with what we are really about, people, I often wander downstairs and chat with folk who are around.
Occasionally I interview patients or their loved ones and it can be difficult to hear their stories, but more often than not it is...
Devon-based Hospicecare has been given a welcome boost thanks to a generous donation from David Wilson Homes.
The developer was on the lookout for a local charity which could make good use of the furniture from the show homes at Rougemont Park in Exeter ahead of the launch of a brand new phase at the development and the opening of new show homes.
Items that were donated included beds, sofas, dining tables and chairs, pictures, ornaments and lamps which are now on sale in the charity’s Fore Street store in Exeter.
“A massive thank you to all the team at David Wilson...
The Exeter family of Sonny Hepburn, the skydiving Hospiscare patient, has fulfilled his dying wish.
Sonny, 71, continued skydiving despite being treated for cancer and was working towards achieving his skydiving C licence when he died in April. He was just four jumps away from his target of 200.
Now his family has completed the jumps and the licence is on the way.
Fiona Hepburn, Sonny’s daughter-in-law, said: “It was such an honour to be a part of helping dad to get his C licence.
"He was a very special person, one in a million, and having experienced my...
Exeter’s newest community centre, The Beacon, is holding its first public event this Saturday 5 December – a Christmas fair.
Come along between 1pm and 3pm and see all the months of hard work that the Beacon Vollies (you’d call them volunteers) have put in. They have sorted, cleaned, painted and even put up a new ceiling at The Beacon, which was formerly the Knight Club in Beacon Lane.
They have created a warm, light welcoming space to hold community events, private functions, meetings and already a number of local organsiatons...
Exeter’s Gemma Wensley is planning the holiday of a lifetime - an astonishing trip for a woman who a few years ago was planning her funeral.
The popular city nurse is celebrating surviving six years since her brain tumour terminal diagnosis. Five years of gruelling chemotherapy seems to have worked and Gemma is now well enough and can just about afford the insurance to holiday in Dubai, Australia and New Zealand where she will be visiting friends.
“My brain tumour is still inoperable but I’m still here and I feel confident that I am going to live longer, “said Gemma. “...
Gemma marched into the hospice reception yesterday.
It was a definite march, not an amble or a saunter, a march like soldier with the air of “let’s crack on and get things done.” Having last seen her in March I was expecting a warm greeting and a good long catch up – no chance.
This was a woman on a mission.
Gemma is our miracle Hospiscare patient who is much loved by staff and volunteers. Despite being diagnosed with a brain tumour six years ago Gemma is still with us, but as a volunteer fundraiser rather than a patient. The chemotherapy worked!
Devon and Cornwall Police Pipes and Drums will be performing in Exeter City Centre on Saturday 28th November.
The band will be playing for Hospiscare's Christmas Fair and then doing a set outside Exeter Cathedral.
The band will be meeting in Mary Arches car park for a quick tune up and then heading up to The Guildhall where we're playing for Hospiscare first.
The Christmas Fair starts at 10.30am with our first session at 11am. We'll then be playing at various interval with our final performance for Hospiscare at 1pm.
Standing on a chair taking pictures is not ideal, but when the local newspaper photographers turn out in force to an official event its best you give them the front row.
A media frenzy in Devon, well yes, sort of. Press photographers were eagerly snapping Exeter’s sporting heroine Jo Pavey as she opened our new £1.2m day hospice in Honiton.
Flashbulbs were going off like crazy, watched by patients, supporters and staff who loved being part of the action. Being the Hospiscare press officer is more than balancing on a chair taking photographs, I also had to balance a pad and...
