‘I’m privileged to witness the care that the Rowans Hospice provides’

My role at the Rowans Hospice is marketing director. The fact we have a marketing department does come as a surprise to some people, but we actually play a very important role within our organisation.

Our first responsibility is to educate as many people as possible about the different care services we provide, so that those in need can find support along their healthcare journey. Our second responsibility is to inspire as much support from our whole community as possible, to help us raise the much-needed funds that we rely on.

Some people are not aware that we are a charity. Just over 13% of our funding

comes from the NHS and we simply could not provide the quality care that we do without the ongoing support from our community.

DISPELLING MYTHS

One of the challenges we face is to dispel a common-held belief that the Rowans Hospice is a place where people go to die. That is part of our story, but there is so much more we offer. Through the opening of our Living Well Centre we have been able to extend our care and are supporting people from diagnoses, right through to their death, then beyond into bereavement for the family and carers.

I am very privileged to witness the care we provide and I talk to patients and their family members about their experiences. A frequent thing I am told is that the care they receive gave them quality time with their loved one. That they became their husband/ wife again, instead of their carer. Also that the support shown to the patient has given them some much-needed time.

I have seen that the kindness and expertise shown by all of our staff and volunteers is priceless. I know our community is very lucky to have this quality care available free of charge.

THE BIG ASK

We now have a very big ask – we need all your support to help to renovate your hospice. Our Silver Jubilee Appeal was launched at the beginning of October 2018. Our partnership with The News has been great as it provides us with an opportunity to talk about every single service we offer, keep our community up to date on the appeal and talk about our community support. We have had a really positive start, so thank you very much if you have got involved.

As it is the start of a new year, 2019 feels very exciting! I wanted to ask every reader of The News if you can join our campaign and ‘pledge to do one thing.’ It can be as simple as ordering a silver change box and filling it with your 5ps. Or you could be inspired to hold a fundraising event with your friends and families.

To understand how important the renovation is and get some inspiration, please visit our

website www.silverjubilee.rowanshospice.co.uk. We are also really happy to come out into the community, to local businesses or community groups, to deliver talks about our scope of care and the Silver Jubilee Appeal. Every time I have delivered a talk

people are really amazed at the different services we offer.

It has been encouraging how many local businesses have already signed up to the challenge to raise £2.5k for the appeal. We want to celebrate our partnership by displaying company logos on our weekly page in The News. So the earlier you get involved the longer your company will enjoy the advertising.

What is satisfying about my role is that I know I am helping getting our message out to people that may benefit directly or know someone who will, and through this education inspire people to support us in any way that they can.

The area of our care includes approximately 600,000 people. Imagine if everyone could ‘pledge to do one thing’.