We are supporting Dying Matters Awareness Week

Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity is supporting Dying Matters Awareness Week between 8 – 14 May and encouraging everyone to start a conversation about death, dying & bereavement with their loved ones.

“Being diagnosed with a life-limiting illness affects everyone differently, our staff and volunteer listeners understand this and try to support patients in a safe space where they have a chance to explore their thoughts and feelings,” says Ann Kenny, Bereavement Lead at Florence Nightingale Hospice.

The hospice team supports patients and their families to have those difficult conversations and plan ahead, reducing the need for important decisions to be made in times of stress and worry. It is vital that wishes and hopes are heard and listened to so that dying is no longer a taboo subject.

Tasha, whose mother-in-law, Linda was cared for by the Hospice, told us how the team helped to prepare the children within the family for her death.

She told us “We received a lot of advice from the FNH@Home team, they helped us to decide how to tell them, when to tell them and what to talk to them about.

The children were 8 and 10 at the time and they were so close to their Nanny, she was their favourite person, above anyone else.  The conversations we had with the team were so helpful and welcomed, we didn’t know what to expect and whether we would be able to answer the children’s questions, this vital support helped us to handle this as well as we could.”