Emotionally Exhausted

Hello Friends!

After today, I am emotionally exhausted I have cried all day long.  It was never going to be a particularly happy day as it is the 16th anniversary of my father's passing, and due to my now limited mobility, I was unable to go to the cathedral to light a candle for him, which I would normally have done.  I try to focus on the good and happy memories that I have of a lifetime spent with my daddy.

and here we encounter a problem. 

I'm trying to insert photographs and Google won't let me

I did however go to Shalom the local hospice for my day I attend there once a week, but I was not prepared for the news that would greet me when I arrived.

DEVASTATING

It was with a very heavy heart indeed that they told me the Hospice will be closing at the end of October. The nurse who told me was in tears herself. Shalom has been a lifeline for so many families and members of the community over the past 18 years, since it was established.  Daddy went there during the last few weeks of his illness, way back, in 2009, not long after they had opened, and my mother attended there for nearly 3 years. I have been attending there for about 18 months.  It is a caring nurturing and supporting environment for those with life limiting medical conditions. however, the bulk of the running costs have fallen on the shoulders of volunteers and fundraising activities which of course can never hope to achieve the kind of sums of money required to run such a facility.

This is the point where I have to be very careful not to get on my soapbox, but I'm already on it. So here we go. Hospices, and similar facilities should not be left to function on, or rely on community contributions and donations and the work of volunteers. They are such a valuable and vital resource within any community and therefore they should be funded by the government in full.  

So there are about four more visits for me to the hospice and that will be the end of it.  I am quite despondent over it all, having, looked forward to my Tuesdays at Shalom. I have made friends but because we are all poorly, it is highly unlikely we will be able to meet up again.  I can only hope that as we move forward something else might come along, but at the moment there is nothing. It's going to be a long and lonely winter.

I cannot say enough to express my heartfelt gratitude to the staff at Shalom and for all the fundraisers and volunteers, who have kept it going for 18 years.  We will miss you here, and you will be missed across the county. You have been wonderful to so many people, providing respite, care, advice and more.

Here is their announcement, it is a link to a Facebook page but I don't think you have to be on Facebook to be able to read it. I hope you can.

Shalom Hospice