It sounds like the title of one of those feelgood British films about friends and neighbours pulling together to support one another. Think Calendar Girls, The Full Monty or Fisherman’s Friends the Movie.
This scenario features a group of bereaved strangers who meet at the Compassionate Café at their local community hub and agree to one lonely chap’s “silly idea” to go on a seaside coach holiday together.
St Luke’s is launching a brand-new podcast to help open up the conversation about death and dying.
The St Luke’s education team are working in partnership with Livewell and Macmillan GP Facilitators from Plymouth, South Hams and West Devon to create a regular podcast for health and social care professionals centred around facilitating good end of life care. The podcast will cover a range of end-of-life care topics, offering top tips and tools to practitioners based on best practice guidance and day to day experience.
It’s a year since St Luke’s b.kinda coffee shop opened its doors in the heart of Plympton and it’s certainly made a strong impression on the local community in those first 12 months.
It’s not just about the excellent coffee and the tempting menu. It’s about the dedicated staff who have made it into an inviting place where every customer feels welcomed, looked after and treated as an important individual.
Every time Harry Stevens and his family drove past the Tour de Moor billboard he would always ask to take part, desperate to join the experienced cyclists as they took on the epic rides across Dartmoor, but always being just a little bit too young for the longer routes.
Finally, for the first time, it is Harry’s time to ride, the now 9-year-old can ride alongside his dad on our adventurer style 28km route on Sunday.
“What better way to say thank you than to throw yourself out of a plane?!”
Caitlin Talbot took part in a skydive last month raising more than £1200 for our patient care.
The 21-year-old, from Plymouth, who is currently completing a degree apprenticeship in Quantity Surveying, jumped from 15000 ft in memory of her loved ones.
“St Luke’s is a place that I hold very close to my heart and their mission is one that has supported my family in our hours of need,” she said.
Award-winning comedian Suzy Bennett and her pub landlord husband Willy Shambrook made a big splash for St Luke’s at their Lido wedding earlier this month, putting hospice care, and the special people the couple have loved and lost, at the heart of a unique ceremony.
Planning the big day, Suzy and her mum, Jean, were browsing a local wedding fair (“just for a laugh and to get free stuff!”) when they spotted the St Luke’s stand and ordered a big batch of our beautiful forget-me-not remembrance pin badges.
Emotional patient journey inspires Alin’s passion to give back to St Luke’s
Driving a poorly patient on his final journey from home to St Luke’s specialist unit had a deep and emotional effect on Plymouth taxi business owner Alin Turi.
Appreciating for the first time the exceptional service the hospice provides for people at the end of their lives, Alin promised himself that he would support St Luke’s in the future.
Three years later, Alin’s DevonXpress Travel has not only become the chief corporate backer for St Luke’s Sponsor a Nurse campaign, but two per cent of every customer’s fare collected via a special online link will be donated directly to St Luke’s to support patient and family care.
A special visit to Britain’s most famous prehistoric standing stones has had a profound effect on patient Mark Glover and his wife, Jane, who are being supported at home in Plymouth by St Luke’s. Here the couple talk about their experiences and how fulfilling his bucket list ambition has renewed Mark’s passion for the limited time he has left.
Saying the final goodbye to your loved one after their death is never easy but doing it in a way that is personal to them – and meaningful to you – can make it all the more special and perhaps even a little easier to bear.
Recently, we had the privilege of going behind the scenes at The Park, Plymouth City Council’s new crematorium, before its official opening. Joined by colleagues from our Education team, several St Luke’s nurses took a tour of the state-of-the-art facility, which will provide a calm and comforting space for the people of Plymouth and surrounding areas to remember and pay tribute to their loved ones.
Close encounters with fluffy bunnies Lottie and Barney and royal python Jake the snake put a big smile on some special faces at St Luke’s specialist unit at Turnchapel this week.
For Rebecca, eight, and Sophie, five, visiting their mum Josie Hasan, the chance to meet and handle the animals, brought along for the afternoon by Anna Corwood of Pets and Picasso animal assisted therapy, were the icing on the cake of the family’s experience of St Luke’s.
