We have joined forces with Bolton Hospice to raise £110,000 to mark the charity’s 20th anniversary.
Over the next 12 months, The Bolton News will be supporting the charity’s bid to raise enough funds to double the number of nursing hours available for its Hospice at Home service.
Staff do not just provide care for people at the hospice in Queens Park Street, off Chorley New Road — they also help look after people who want to remain at home with their family. Many people who are seriously ill and nearing the end of their lives prefer to be cared for at home, surrounded by their family and friends.
Bolton Hospice, working with district nurses, GPs and Macmillan nurses, helps make this possible.
In recent years, the Hospice at Home service has become increasingly popular— especially over Christmas, Easter and other family occasions when people want to be with their loved ones.
But the service requires dedicated and specially trained nurses to work with families to help care for people with life-limiting conditions at their homes, and the additional cost of these nurses means that not everyone who wants the service can be cared for at home. Each year, Bolton Hospice needs to raise £2 million just to continue the care it currently offers and this year — to mark two decades after the charity began—The Bolton News is appealing to readers to unite and raise an additional £110,000.
There are currently three dedicated Hospice at Home nurses and the money raised will pay for additional Bolton Hospice nurses to be trained to provide twice as much care in the home.
The Hospice is hoping to create an additional Hospice at Home team, to help share the load and provide care for even more people.
Between April, 2010, and April, 2011, 79 people were cared for in their homes by the Hospice at Home team, who completed 717 home visits. Over the same period, the hospice cared for 404 patients and held 642 outpatient consultations.
Alice Atkinson, hospice fundraising manager, said: “Hospice at Home has been around for quite some time now and it has been successful, so much so that we now have a much bigger demand for the service and we are utilising the service more because home is where people want to be.
“We are very aware that when someone is suffering from a life-limitating illness it doesn’t just affect them, it affects their families and carers as well so a lot of our services are for them as well.
“We want to expand the service so people can have the chance of being cared for at home and we are hoping people are really going to get behind us and help us care for people at home.”
Ian Savage, Editor in chief of The Bolton News, said: “As a newspaper at the heart of its community, The Bolton News is always looking to support good local causes. In recent years we have helped to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds and that money has gone some considerable way to improving lives in the town.
“The generosity of our readers never ceases to amaze me. Every time we ask them to dig deep and help, they really get involved. I am sure that together we can hit this new target and give our local hospice something to celebrate for its 20th anniversary.”
Find out more about the Hospice at Home nurses, how you can help raise money for Hospice at Home, and how you can get involved in Bolton Hospice’s 20 Challenges for its 20th anniversary in The Bolton News every day this week.
● To support the Hospice at Home appeal, text HOME20 followed by £2, £5 or £10 to 70070.
Source http://www.theboltonnews.co.uk
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