Physical Health Ireland Project #20233

Nurses for Night Care

by Irish Hospice Foundation

Project Report | May 25, 2022
Nurses for Night Care - Report May 2022

By Mireya Gines | Fundraising Development Executive

Nursing Care at home

Thanks to your support to Irish Hospice Foundation we are there for hundreds of families at a very vulnerable time in their lives. As you know, ours is the only free at-home Night Nursing service for patients suffering from non-cancer diseases. That’s everything from dementia, to heart disease. Patients referred to this service receive expert nursing care and support at night in their own homes in their final days. It also provides reassurance and respite for families and loved ones caring for someone at home.

Nurse for Night Care Annemarie tells us about a gentleman whose wife was dying — “He was exhausted but worried to go to sleep. I said you take yourself off to bed, and I’ll call you if anything happens. I said you can come down in your pyjamas at 3...4...5 in the morning just to hold her hand. It meant he could get a few hours of rest knowing his wife was in safe hands.” A big part of nursing is bringing comfort to families.

Every precious hour of care costs €40. With your support we can provide this vital healthcare service free of charge to families in every part of Ireland, every night of the year. This is particularly important in areas where there are no hospice facilities.

The demand for Nurses for Night Care increases every year, and the urgency for this service means that we cannot have a waiting list.

From the 1^st of January to the 30^th of April 2022 - with your help - we have supported 282 patients across Ireland. Your kindness has helped us cover the cost of 740 nights of nursing care.

This year alone we must raise €1,150,000 million to meet the need for our Nurses for Night Care service. We couldn’t meet this growing demand without your support. Thank you for the joy and peace that you bring to families in their final nights together.

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Jan 31, 2022
Nurses for Night Care - February 2022

By Mireya Gines | Fundraising Development Executive

Holding the hand of a loved one

Thank you for your wonderful support to Irish Hospice Foundation. As you know, ours is the only free at-home Night Nursing service for patients suffering from non-cancer diseases. That’s everything from dementia, to heart disease.

Since the pandemic began, your compassion has helped provide more precious hours of night nursing care than at any other time in our 35-year history.

Our provisional figures tell us that from January to October 2021, we have supported approximately 750 people and their families and provided 2,263 nights of care during that period.

For the first part of 2022, from the 1st of January to the 26th of January, we have seen a 38.5% increase in demand compared with the same period last year.

Your generosity helps us meet this unprecedented increase in demand and brings comfort to so many families accross Ireland...

In her own words our Nurse for Night Care, Annemarie tells us how your kindness brings such comfort and relief to dying people and their families, night after night.

“You’re there for the family as much as the patient… It’s so tiring for families. They’re exhausted. I can’t count the number of times someone has said to me, ‘I got a good night sleep for the first time in weeks because I knew my loved one was in good hands.’”

Since Annmarie began as a Nurse for Night Care at the start of the pandemic, many people who have died, and their loved ones she came to know, have all taken a special place in her heart. But she tells us of one family who she will carry with her forever. It was a mother and daughter, they were devoted to one another.

“The daughter wouldn’t leave her side in those final nights. She was sleeping on a blow-up mattress next to her Mam.”

When the mother took her final breath, Annemarie went to comfort the grief-stricken daughter.

“She’d just lost her Mam. She had nobody else. I sat in the garden with her for two hours. I think it meant the world to her that I was there.

That’s part of nursing, bringing comfort and humanity in those devastating moments.”

— Annemarie, Nurse for Night Care

This year alone we must raise nearly €1 million to meet the need for our Nurses for Night Care service. We couldn’t meet this growing demand without your support as 85% of our income comes from the voluntary donations from generous people like you. Thank you for the comfort and peace that you bring to so many families at a very difficult time

Links:

Information on Nurses for Night Care and Bereavement support

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Oct 5, 2021
Nurses for Night Care - Report September 2021

By Mireya Gines | Fundraising Development Executive

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