'Heroes' scheme honours work of hospice volunteers

OF THE 30,000 people who die in Ireland every year, about a fifth of them pass away in hospice care. Most of the nine residential hospices and the numerous home-help services around the State would not exist without the work of volunteers.

Every hospice in the State is the result of the work of local people who give of their time and energy to create something that requires huge fundraising and vision to set up, and none could be maintained without voluntary support.

The Irish Hospice Foundation launched the Irish Pride Sunflower Heroes scheme two years ago to recognise the work of volunteers in the hospice movement.

Volunteers are critical not only in founding and fundraising for hospices, but also in helping out services that have varying levels of State support.

Palliative care specialist Dr Brian Creedon, who is campaigning for a residential hospice for Waterford, says the whole hospice movement is due to the work of lay people.

“In the Irish context, I wouldn’t have my job and we wouldn’t have palliative care services if it was not for the volunteers,” he says.

“It is usually through personal experience that people feel compelled to act. There is a groundswell movement and a home-care nurse is involved at the beginning. Usually that attracts further funding,” he says.

“These volunteers were essential from a fundraising perspective and from a vision perspective when the HSE and the health boards had no interest in it.”

Eleven volunteers from across the State were recently honoured at a ceremony in the Mansion House.

Each of them have been stalwart fundraisers for the hospice movement, especially on Sunflower Day which raises €750,000 a year.

One of those who was honoured was Ita Shipsey, a founder of the Waterford Hospice Movement in 1988 which started out with one nurse.

The Waterford Hospice Movement covers a population of 120,000 people in Waterford and south Kilkenny.

Its services cost €588,000 a year to run, two-thirds of which comes from voluntary contributions.

Shipsey was on the board of directors of the hospice movement for 23 years as it expanded to provide a high level of home-care services in the area.

Even after retiring from active duty, she remains patron of the organisation as it aims to persuade the HSE to help fund a residential hospice for the area.

For Joseph Murphy, the 12 years he spent helping out at Our Lady’s Hospice in Harold’s Cross has its own rewards, most notably meeting his partner Jean Corrigan.

Murphy was 63 and a confirmed bachelor when he met Corrigan, who also volunteers at the hospice. The pair have been together seven years.

Murphy has raised €16,000 to date for the hospice on Sunflower Day and also volunteers there three or four days a week.

Many of those who volunteer to help out have a family story to tell in connection with their work at the hospice.

In Murphy’s case, it was his mother who had an illness as a teenager and attended Our Lady’s Hospice. She made an unexpected recovery and went on to have seven children.

Murphy’s duties include bringing the residents to Mass, taking them for their meals and singing for them when the occasion allows.

Though hospices are in essence sombre places, Murphy cherishes the moments of joy that often arise.

“I love to see them with a smile on their faces. It give you a wonderful lift for the day. It makes me happy and them happy,” he says.

“There is sadness when they pass away. Over the years, I’ve been with patients in their last hours. It is sad, but life goes on.”

Others were honoured for their redoubtable fundraising skills. Florrie Purcell spearheaded the hospice movement in Nenagh, Co Tipperary, and her commitment to the organisation was described as “outstanding – never shirking from a local dance, a coffee morning in the mountains or bucket on the street”.

Mary O’Connor from Kerry was honoured as a “selfless promoter” of the Kerry Hospice Foundation. She held the position of vice-chairwoman of Listowel Hospice from 1999 to 2004 and chairwoman since then.

For them and the seven others who were honoured in the Mansion House, their endeavours and that of thousands of others is absolutely critical to the survival of the hospice movement.

“They were founded voluntarily and they are operated voluntarily. The volunteers are absolutely crucial to their existence,” says Tim O’Dea, head of fundraising at the Irish Hospice Foundation.

“When we speak to people, a lot of them have been touched personally by an experience of hospice care which affected them so much that they want to give something back,” he says.

“Many are arriving at a time in life when they realise what hospice care provides.”