18 May 2022
When Clara Gillanders was diagnosed with cancer she was told she had two years to live. But that two years turned out to be just five months and Harbour Hospice was brought in when Clara began to deteriorate more quickly than anticipated.
“Mum had always been a very elegant, dignified woman and she wanted to be looked after at home,” her daughter Kenina Court says. “But I’m not a nurse, I’m in awe of the work nurses do, so we talked to Harbour Hospice about what we could do. Well, I was gobsmacked when they said we didn’t need to bring Mum into the Inpatient Unit and that they’d support us to look after her at home.
“So that’s what my father and I did. Hospice told us where to get a hospital bed, an oxygen machine and all the other equipment we needed. They came by twice a day and taught us how to do Mum’s meds. I was incredibly nervous that I’d do something wrong but they were so patient with me, by the time they’d finished with me I was a pro!
“It was very empowering to be able to care for Mum and I really appreciated the way the nurses handled us. They were bright and positive without being saccharine and they made us feel useful. We were encouraged to be a part of taking care of Mum, and for us, that was an honour and a privilege.
“They gave Mum as much time as she needed to work her way through decisions for her care.
Not once did I ever feel we were on a timetable, and they always treated Mum with the greatest respect. I don't know if the nurses recognised that Mum was Samoan or if they just instinctively understood cultural differences. But I believe Mum felt that she was embraced wholly - as a person, as a woman, as a Pacific Islander and as a patient with terminal cancer.
“I had some understanding of hospice before Mum became ill but I had no understanding of the care and attention and the time they give to families. The hospice nurses and doctors are incredible people.”
We’re in desperate need of more specialist community nurses. Can you support us today with a donation so that we can train and fund more community nurses to provide patient care in people’s homes?
