I’ve been a volunteer at the hospice now for fifteen years.

The general atmosphere is a happy atmosphere, and we laugh, we jibe, we tell jokes

I could tell you one or the two of the good jokes they’ve told us.

They call me the whiteboard superintendent, I run all the quizzes and all the board games from the whiteboard

That is another very important aspect of a hospice I believe

they give each other so much support.

In fact we’ve had patients forming their own self-help group.

So they come in, they see other people in exactly the same situation

and they are a tremendous support to each other, as well as the support we give them.

We like to think that nothing really is impossible or too much trouble for us to do.

Patients are very welcome to have their pets, they’ll often like to bring their cats or dogs in.

I think our most unusual request was someone wanted to see their petting sheep

and so they came to our courtyard so they could go and say goodbye to their sheep.

On a different note, we’ve been able to arrange weddings within the hospice on lots of occasions.

I think our record was we managed to arrange a wedding within two hours

obviously thanks to our local registry office.

We have up to 15 patients a day coming to the day centre

all with life-threatening illnesses and they have a good day.

They come from 10am-3pm and they do things like quizzes, arts and crafts

and relaxation. We have a team of volunteer complementary therapists

who do reflexology, aromatherapy

massage, Indian head massage, and Bowen technique.

So they actually find that it’s beneficial, it helps with their pain relief

it helps with their relaxation and actually makes them feel good about themselves again.

To my knowledge, the Heart of Kent hospice

has about maybe more than 400 volunteers.

I think it would be very difficult for the hospice

to work without its volunteers.

Hospices are well known for their work with cancer patients

I think it’s important to point out that we accept referrals for people who are dying from all diseased conditions.

Patients are admitted, primarily for two main reasons.

A lot of our patients are admitted for what we call ‘symptom control’

and that may be pain relief for any of their physical symptoms.

We see treating the psychosocial aspects of people

their stress and anxieties.

If we can help in any way with those we’ll be much more successful in helping

the traditional symptom control issues.

Of course people are also admitted to the hospice to die, where that is their choice

and where we are able to respond to that.

All hospices offer counselling and bereavement support to families

whose loved ones have died at the hospice

and some hospices offer that routinely but if you’re unsure

you need to go and contact your hospice and ask them what services they provide.

When the patient dies, every next of kin, every relative is offered bereavement support

and they can either see one of our counsellors or one of our volunteers or join one of the groups.

It’s very individual to each person, there’s no right or wrong way to feel

there’s nothing that says you have to see a counsellor or you have to join one of the groups

we’re very much led by the person and what’s right for them.

Chaplains are available on the wards and in the day therapies

so we will actually go round and see people

and obviously we’ll be sensitive if people don’t want to speak to us at that moment

or even at all, but we find it works quite well

to have quite a visible presence.

All faiths or none will often speak to chaplains about things that are important to them

and if they do need specific religious help from another tradition

we’ll be able to put them in touch with someone who can help them and support them.

Sometimes people get quite tired and depressed after a long illness

and they might say something like ‘I don’t know what the point of it all is’,

or even ‘what the point of it all has been’,

and sometimes when we can get people to talk about the important things in their lives

it helps them to realise that the unique importance

in meaning and value of their life and I think that’s quite an important spiritual need

that people have towards the end of their lives

and I hear some wonderful stories as a chaplain, it’s a huge privilege.

We never get used to losing a patient but it is inevitable

everybody is born and everybody dies and it’s just that that journey can be shorter for some people than others.

We just try and celebrate that journey that we have together.

For information, help, or if you just want to chat

the Macmillan Support Line on 0808 808 00 00

or visit macmillan.org.uk