The Tulip Suite in the Johnson Community Hospital has been open since spring 2010 and offers the people of South Holland a dedicated palliative care unit in the heart of our community. The Suite is supported by members of the Spalding Hospice Foundation, a small team of volunteers who 10 years ago had a dream of hospice beds in Spalding. The Committee raised considerable funds despite not having a place to put the beds but when the new Hospital began to take shape they were able to have representatives on the steering committee and were able to have a say in planning the suite. We asked for 4 beds and a large quiet room for relatives to use and bought top quality furniture for all areas to give a warm and homely atmosphere to the Suite, matching curtains and bedspreads, large comfortable reclining chairs and patio furniture for the balcony and many other items. We supply a float of petty cash for the small luxuries that a patient may require and offer staff funding for extra training in palliative care if they apply to us.
There is a great deal of goodwill locally towards the Tulip Suite (and the whole Hospital) and since opening we have received many generous donations from families who have used the Suite. These range from £10 to £2,000 either from personal giving or from collections in Churches and Crematoria. We write and thank all donors, many send us letters that are both moving and grateful in their thanks to the hospital staff and to us for making the Suite so pleasant for their loved ones as they reach the final stages of their lives.
“My husband died peacefully in the Tulip Suite on 18th May, we would like to express our deep and sincere thanks for the way that you looked after him during the last two weeks of his life and the way that you also looked after the family. Your knowledge, patients and time answering our questions was much appreciated by us all. We would also like to congratulate you on such a pleasant environment. It certainly made it a lot easier to deal with emotionally at that difficult time.”
“This donation is a very big thank you for all the care and support given to a friend and her family in her last few hours. From all her work colleagues and friends at Manor Fresh Ltd.”
“We are donating this money (raised by a crazy hat day and a lucky dip) as we think it is a brilliant way of making families and patients more comfortable at a difficult time in their lives. It is an honour to donate the money we raised to your wonderful work and that there are charities that really make a difference to people. Thank you for all you has done already and we hope you will be able to use our donation to really help your cause.”
“Our Mother died in the Tulip Suite on the 19th August, the final weeks of her life were made as comfortable as possible there and our family was very moved by the quality of care and kindness shown by all the staff and the wonderful and homely surroundings made all the difference.”
“My Husband recently spent time in the Tulip Ward and sadly passed away. Whilst in there the care he received was absolutely fantastic and the facilities provided by the Spalding Hospice Foundation were magnificent. Although it was a very sad time for us the splendid facilities made the family’s bedside vigil much more comfortable.”
As you can see the whole community is behind us and the hospital and we, the volunteers of the Spalding Hospice Foundation are very aware that the Suite and the whole hospital depend on the high calibre of the nursing staff that maintain such high standards and work so hard and show such care and compassion to the patients.