Hospice. It’s Not What You Think It is ….. It’s Better
How Hospice Southland helps those end-of-life patients die at home.
Home based palliative care happens to about 2/3’s of all our patients.
That’s right most people prefer to die at home if they can and we aim to help them.
What is needed to be able to achieve this? Firstly, good communication and a well-integrated team.
This means that the GP, the District Nurse, the Hospice Nurse and Doctor, the spiritual coordinator and our counselling team all work together in an integrated way with you as the patient our most important person.
End of life conditions can be painful, there is no getting away from this, but with our special nurses, Nurse Practitioners and Doctors your pain should be manageable, and your physical symptoms helped. This may be being able to be kept clean and feeling fresh.
Adult nappies are quite often needed, in this day and age, they are great and help keep moisture away from the skin so that it doesn’t get raw.
End of life can mean being on a morphine pump and our nurses can teach your family how to manage this, it will help manage your pain.
We also prescribe medication for constipation and ensure you have the right equipment to help you “go to the loo”. Dry mouth is a terrible thing, just having a lemonade ice block to be rubbed around your mouth to help ease the dryness of the mouth that often comes with dying.
These are all things that help you have a “good death”.
Sometimes it’s necessary to come into the Hospice, not because your time is near but to get your symptoms and pain managed and then you can go home again. I have people say, “I thought that was it for Mum when she came into hospice, but she was home again 3 days later and feeling much more at ease, with the pain managed”.
Holistic care is the name of the game. This means not just physical pain is treated but the whole family and whānau are cared for, we acknowledge people’s roots and have a Living Legacy service where our patients can tell their life story and have all the photos they want put into their book.
This means that once they have passed their family have a written and pictorial memory of them.
We also care for the spirit, a very important part of end of life.
A good death is where all four things come together and the patient along with their family have managed to find answers to their questions and can focus on coming to terms with their grief and saying goodbye.
A home-based death can and is in the main a good and peaceful death for our patients.
We celebrated the life of Mhari Baty and all she brought to Hospice Southland as our long term Murihiku Board Trustee.
The Hospice Southland Board of Trustees has had Mhari Baty as our local Maori trustee since 2008. Mhari brought key Maori leadership attributes to the Board. She certainly made Hospice better.
She was grounded in tikanga and the values of whakaiti, kaitia, kitanga.
These came through her cultural grounding and being well versed in te ao Maori. Mhari had strong relational skills and deep roots into the community.
One of the many aspects she brought to the Hospice was getting involved with some of the Invercargill Mens Prison and getting a group together to learn to carve and to carve pous for the Hospice.
They are a tribute to the energy and Māori focus Mhari brought to the Hospice. Another was the taonga carving Mhari had her son carve and then gifted to the Hospice.
In meetings Mhari’s constant refrain was “are our people being cared for in a culturally right manner”.
We enjoyed her presence at the Hospice and when she passed – at the Hospice, we were privileged to be able to be with her and her whānau during those last hours.
Okioki i runga i te Rangimarie Mhari Rest in peace Mhari and thank you for all you did for us.
Learning to give is a lesson many children learn when they are making or buying something for the family at Christmas
time. Learning to develop a business is something many people try to do but don’t always succeed.
Meet young Archie Lang our entrepreneurial gardener. Last summer Archie developed a business raising seedlings and selling them. He was very successful and made $300.00. Archie has also learnt to give and donated half of his earnings to Hospice.
What a marvellous gesture and life- long lessons from Archie.
At Hospice we love to thank those who donate to us. Hospice Southland was the very grateful recipient of funds from the excellent show “Last Night at the Proms” put on by the Invercargill North Inner Wheel Club.
We like to thank our donees in many different ways and so had a high tea as a way to say thankyou. Of course we dressed up.
This is from one of our nurses and it’s a good read, although you may shudder.
You may think about “How much bacteria are on my hands and on to the surfaces I touch.”
A few facts to inspire more conscious hand hygiene.
The average human hand houses 150 different kinds of bacteria
There are typically between 10,000 and 10 million bacteria on each of your hands
Most germs can survive on your hands for three hours
Damp hands spread 1,000 times more germs than dry hands
Apparently, only one out of three adults wash their hands after coughing and sneezing.
Washing with hot water and soap for over 30 seconds is required, and don’t forget your wrists.
BACTERIA CAN BE GOOD AND BAD BUT THESE FACTS MAY FREAK YOU OUT.
Most things are measured against the bacteria count on the toilet seat, so as a base line - Most toilet seats have an average of about 295 bacteria per square inch, including E. Coli, Salmonella, Staphylococcus, Influenza and more.
Keyboards and computer mice are around 400x more contaminated than the toilet seat. For those of you who share a keyboard, that microbe count increases even more.
Mobile phones have a 10x higher bacterial load than most toilet seats
Petrol pump handles are one of the filthiest surfaces we touch- estimated to be 11,000x more contaminated with bacteria and viruses than toilet seats.
These germs aren't all the friendly ones either; 50% are 'Gram-Positive Cocci' which threaten skin conditions, toxic shock, and even illnesses becoming resistant to antibiotics, such as pneumonia
Just as a note to remember when you are getting your groceries – 72% of shopping carts tested positive for fecal bacteria, 50% tested positive for E. coli!
SO WHAT TO DO – HAND HYGIENE IS CRUCIAL, DON’T TOUCH YOUR FACE OR PUT YOUR FINGERS IN YOUR MOUTH. GIVES A NEW MEANING TO “FINGER LICKIN GOOD”.
Clean work surfaces with anti- bacteria wipes or similar, and clean hands frequently with alcohol based gel or soap and hot water.
Turn your keyboard upside down to shake out any debris, do not blow on the keyboard as this potentially spreads bacteria and viruses.
Dry with lint free cloth if required. Take hand sanitiser with you to use when out and about, swish them round that shopping cart, and wipe your hands after going out.
Those EFTPOS machines are used thousands of time a day so sanitise your hands after use.