1 July 2023
Ask Margaret McLean what her favourite day of the week is and she’ll tell you Wednesday, because that’s the day she volunteers at Harbour Hospice.
Margaret began volunteering for Hospice 15 years ago, starting out preparing the meal trays for patients then moving on to ensuring the kitchens for staff and patients’ whānau are clean, well-stocked with cutlery and crockery and replenished with fresh supplies of tea and coffee and milk and biscuits.
Margaret was inspired to take up this role because her husband David was cared for [by Hospice] 19 years ago. "It took almost four years to find the strength to be able to return, but it was always my intention to one day volunteer,” she says.
Margaret and David had been married 25 years and had shared the most adventurous life together, travelling around New Zealand in a caravan for 22 years. “We were import agents, we did a circuit of New Zealand every quarter and we were living proof that you can live very well with very little,” she says.
After David became ill they sold the caravan and bought a house on the North Shore and David spent his final weeks at Harbour Hospice’s North Shore Inpatient Unit.
Margaret says the hospice staff were wonderful. “I couldn’t have survived that stressful time without their help,” she says. “I was trying to maintain a home, hold down a job and visit my husband every available minute. The nightly visits by the nurses, who took the time to sit with me, explain the dying process and help me understand the daily changes – they truly were my angels.”
Becoming a volunteer has brought her great satisfaction, she says. “The experience helps to grow compassion, empathy and understanding. The physical, emotional and spiritual care that all Hospice staff provide is outstanding, and it’s extended not only to patients but also to their family and friends. I would encourage anyone to volunteer for Hospice; it’s incredibly rewarding.”
