Volunteers give over 25 years service to Hospice Care

• 6 November 2024

An extra special group of people were invited to spend an evening of celebration at the Education and Conference Centre on Tuesday 22 October.

Each of these amazing individuals embody the Charity’s values of compassion, caring, community and excellence, for without them, the Charity cannot care for as many people in Cambridgeshire living with an advanced serious illness or other life-limiting condition and those who need end-of-life care.

For these were some of the volunteers who have dedicated their time to others for over five, ten, fifteen and even twenty five years!

CEO, Sharon Allen, OBE thanked the volunteers for their dedication to the Charity before presenting certificates to those who were able to attend the evening.  Other colleagues, including those from the Senior Leadership Team, Voluntary Services Team and Trustees were also in attendance to show their appreciation, as refreshments and sweet and savoury temptations from the Bistro, were offered to the volunteers and their families and friends, who proudly accompanied them to the evening.

Hannah Touhey, Voluntary Services Manager and her team supports a wide range of volunteer roles across Cambridgeshire which contribute to the Charity’s outstanding care and ‘making every moment count’ for patients at the Hospice in Cambridge, at the Alan Hudson Centre in Wisbech and in patient’s own homes via the Community Team.

Vital support is relied upon everyday from generous and selfless volunteers, whether that is in the shops and retail outlets, the Bistro, the Hospice, Arthur’s Shed, at the Alan Hudson Centre or other, more unusual roles such as remotely writing up life story transcripts, proof reading, or helping out at fundraising events.

Maggie Hook and Milly (her four legged companion who lapped up all the attention) received a certificate for over five years of volunteering service together. Maggie explained:

“I started volunteering at the Hospice in Mill Road in 2008. When the Hospice moved, I decided that, if I had the right dog, I would like to become a PAT dog (Pets As Therapy volunteer) because I had seen in my years of working in Day Therapy (now called Living Well) the benefits and the joy that a dog can bring to patients.

It’s not just a matter of visiting patients at the Living Well Service, I also visit the Inpatient Unit and the staff as well. The thing about a PAT dog is that it gives you an ability to speak to people, carers, relatives, patients and staff about something completely different to what they would be expected to talk about in a Hospice. So, a dog gives an escape route for people to talk about their own dogs, what they used to love having as pets, what their pets were called etc.

The stress relieving properties of PAT dogs are well-recognised in so many fields and I feel that my work in a Hospice with a PAT dog is the most rewarding of all the various environments that my PAT dog and I have visited.”

Maggie continued by sharing what the Long Service Award means to her:

“The Award means a great deal. It means we’ve gone through all the restrictions that we had to deal with during COVID – all the testing. We continued and we made changes to the way that we had been operating. Now it’s back to normal but that five year period was an incredible opportunity to go through, a whole different set of circumstances and yet still carry on with the joy and the comfort that a PAT dog can bring.”

Maggie explained why she and Milly keep coming back each week:

“I find it a way of helping people. The feedback that I get from patients and relatives who have the opportunity to meet a dog, to stroke a dog, to talk about dogs or anything else is just incredibly moving, and I feel very privileged to be able to do it.”

Tina Shah was first inspired to volunteer with the Charity having witnessed the care given to her friend, Jaya Gohil in 1993.  As Tina walked up to receive her certificate for an incredible twenty five years of volunteering with the Charity, she received a loud and encouraging round of applause from everyone in the room. Tina shared her volunteering journey:

“I started volunteering at the famous tea bar at the old Hospice at Brookfields on Mill Road. It’s amazing what a cup of tea can do! I then joined the Home Sitting Team, where we used to sit with a patient, to give the carer a break, one morning or one afternoon a week. It was then that I realised what it meant, for someone who is caring for someone who is unwell, to have a slot where they can go out, do some window shopping, have a cup of tea or have a nice luxury bath upstairs, without worrying that their loved one is alone.

When we moved to the new Hospice, I worked briefly in the Bradbury Wellness Centre Clinics upstairs, [where the Lymphoedema and the Therapy Teams support patients] and then moved to be a Volunteer Receptionist.

What I like about being a volunteer receptionist is that you are able to welcome people as they arrive at the Hospice. You come face-to-face with emotions and it’s amazing. You never know what to expect on any shift. I’ve been doing it for a few years and no two shifts have been the same. It’s very right to say there’s a fusion of tears and smiles. People who come in with their loved ones, who are very ill or at the end of life stage, are tearful with emotions but when they see the care that the Charity offers, there’s a smile on their face. They know people are taking care of their feelings and that’s where you feel the satisfaction and get a warm glow.”

Tina attended the evening with her family, including her husband, Rajnikant Shah, who also volunteers with the Charity, and her three children and their partners. She shared what the Long Service Award means to her:

“Arthur Rank Hospice has been a big part of my life! Emotionally, this award means a lot because I’ve been through some challenges myself in my life and the thought of having made a little bit of a difference in other people’s lives gives me a lot of comfort. For my family, I’ve tried to get them into volunteering because work today runs in the fifth gear and life is different now. What’s definite is death – end of life – and here you come face to face with life and death.

Getting the award tonight was very emotional for me because my family were there and the staff has become like a family for me too. Especially when Sharon gave me that long hug, a really long, long hug, I was going to fall into tears because it was a thank you that I felt within my heart.”

Tina concluded by sharing what she would say to anyone who is thinking of volunteering with Arthur Rank Hospice Charity:

“We live in a world where we are all blessed with so much, it is easy to forget what’s going on with others and I would say it’s an ideal way of giving back something. I have found it a very friendly place to volunteer, you learn a lot, you get a really good satisfaction after giving back and the staff are really, really good and you get looked after!”

You can view photos from the evening on our Facebook Page (in the album) here. 

---

If you would like to volunteer with Arthur Rank Hospice Charity, please visit: arhc.org.uk/volunteer