Hospice Waikato

Waikato Sunrise Rotary - we say ditto! To have over 200 people head out for dinner on a miserable Hamilton evening is testament to how wonderful this event is. So many amazing organisations and volunteers helped make this evening happen and we were absolutely delighted to be the recipient charity once again. Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who organised, cooked, served, poured, donated and attended this event. We'd particularly like to acknowledge Yvonne and Fred Phillips and Hamilton Central Rotary. This event simple would not happen without your vision and your energy!

Congratulations to Hamilton Central Rotary on another fantastic event - Chef's Night Out - raising vital funds for Hospice Waikato. It was a fantastic night, with fantastic food and wines... how mouth-watering are these photos!!

Well done to everyone involved 💙💛💙

We get so much amazing support from our local communities and we love giving back! This time, we picked our local foodbank - Hamilton Combined Christian Foodbank Trust. Over the past few weeks, the staff in our shops and at our Cobham Drive site have donated cans and pantry items and today was delivery day!

Our patient information management system is crucially important as it enables real-time access to patient information by all the medical people involved in the care of our patients. Thanks to The Lion Foundation for providing funding support for this system. It might not sound glamourous, but it is very, very important! We can't thank you enough for your support.

Interested? To find out a bit more about each of these roles, visit https://www.hospicewaikato.org.nz/en/working-with-us.

Pure joy in the Hospice Waikato kitchen today!
This shiny new freezer is so much bigger and better than our previous one and we really can't thank Dragon Community Trust enough for their funding!

Last Friday, to celebrate Matariki, we hosted harakeke (flax) weaving for our Rainbow Place families. Candida, one of our kaiāwhina, facilitated this for us, with help from a member of her whānau and our Rainbow Place team. It was a wonderful afternoon, enjoyed by all. A huge thank you to WEL Energy Trust for providing funding for our kaiāwhina roles. You are making a difference!

Matariki is a special time for all Hospice Waikato kaimahi. It's an opportunity for us to acknowledge those who have died, to focus on the things we are grateful for in our own lives, and to look ahead to the next year. Today we celebrated with shared kai and we extend our love and best wishes to everyone who has been touched by our care over the last 12 months. Mānawatia a Matariki!

As Hospice Volunteer Awareness Week comes to an end, we want to say a heartfelt thank you to all our volunteers.🤍 From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for your selflessness, your compassion, and your willingness to make a difference. Your presence, your efforts, and your genuine care make our hospice community stronger and more vibrant.🌟

Let's celebrate all our incredible volunteers today and every day. You are the backbone of Hospice Waikato, and we are immensely grateful for your invaluable contributions. Together, we create moments of comfort, joy, and peace for those in need.

A special shoutout to our long-serving volunteers and to every one of you not mentioned by name—your impact is truly priceless! 🤗

C

Carey Campbell, Clinical Director (Aus/NZ) at Orion Health came to Hospice Waikato to do a presentation with the Senior Nursing and Clinical Leaders about the use of AI. Carey told us about the importance of the human input and the ongoing need for critical thinking alongside using AI tools. The mentimeter knowledge assessment pre and post showed a difference in confidence and knowledge after just a one hour session. Thank you Carey for taking some of the fear and apprehension away.

Interested in becoming a hospice volunteer? 🥰
We offer training and support to help you make a difference. Volunteer positions at Hospice Waikato cover a wide range of skill sets and there are many opportunities for you, your friends, your family, or even your company, co-workers, and groups & clubs to be involved! 🤗😁

Whether you want to get involved weekly, monthly or occasionally, there’ll be a volunteer opportunity for you.

Together, we can make a meaningful difference and we can’t wait for you to join the Hospice Waikato Volunteer Community! 💖

Contact us to discuss these opportunities with a member of our team or register your interest here: https://www.hospicewaikato.org.nz/en/register-your-interest

📝We've conducted a survey with our amazing volunteers on why they chose to volunteer with us, and here's what they had to say:

🙌 Hospice Helped Someone They Knew: Numerous volunteers cited personal experiences with hospice care, whether for a family member, friend, or loved one. Witnessing the compassionate support provided by hospice teams during challenging times deeply resonated with them, motivating them to give back and pay forward the care they received.

💖 To Give Back to the Community: Another common theme among our volunteers is the desire to make a positive impact in their community. Whether it's through offering companionship to patients, supporting families, or assisting with administrative tasks, our volunteers are driven by a shared commitment to serving others and making a difference in the lives of those facing life-limiting illnesses.

📚 Experience to Put on a CV: Additionally, some volunteers mentioned the practical benefits of volunteering, such as gaining valuable experience to enhance their resumes or CVs Volunteering provides opportunities to gain work experience, expand networks, and develop essential workplace skills, including communication, teamwork, problem-solving, task organization, and planning.

✨Some other reasons include meaningful connections, making an impact, sense of belonging, personal fulfillment, and continuous learning.

We're incredibly grateful to our volunteers for sharing their insights and experiences with us. Your dedication, passion, and commitment are what make our hospice community so special. Thank you for all that you do! 🌟💖

Check out the story on our Lake Road shop in the Winter edition of Nourish Magazine - www.nourishmagazine.co.nz/waikato-winter-2024. We're on Page 22 but take a few minutes to read the whole mag, the content is fabulous! Thanks and thanks Ashlee DeCaires for the great pic!

Today, we received an amazing donation from Elizabeth Arden! Rachael Irving, the Area Manager in our region, dropped in boxes of their amazing Eight Hour Cream. Such a beautiful product for the patients in our In-Patient Unit to use. Thanks Elizabeth Arden!!

🌟 Did you know? 🌟 Our incredible Hospice Waikato volunteers have dedicated over 83,000 hours of service in the past year! 🕐We’re proud to have 680 amazing volunteers across the Waikato Region, with a remarkable 83% being women.💖

Our volunteers shine in 26 different roles within Hospice Waikato, with half of them making a difference in our retail operations. Impressively, 13% of our team have been with us for over a decade, and 31% for 5-9 years. Special shoutout to our longest-serving volunteer, who has been with us for an astounding 41 years (Marylou Utting)! 🎉👏

Our volunteers are the heart and soul of our hospice community. Whether comforting patients at the bedside or supporting our retail stores, your dedication, kindness, and unwavering commitment make a world of difference every single day. 🌏✨

Thank you for embodying the spirit of hospice care and for being the heartbeat of our Hospice Waikato family! ❤️

We want to express our deepest gratitude to all the remarkable volunteers who generously give their time and hearts to support Hospice Waikato! 🥰Your diverse roles, whether providing companionship, administrative support, retail assistance, or lending a compassionate ear, contribute immensely to our mission of providing exceptional care to those facing life-limiting illnesses.

Each of you brings a unique blend of kindness, empathy, and dedication to your role, enriching the lives of patients and families in profound ways. Your unwavering commitment to serving others, regardless of the task or challenge, is truly inspiring. Thank you!🙏

This week, we honor and celebrate the incredible volunteers who dedicate their time, skills, and hearts to making our community a better place. Your selfless contributions make a world of difference, and we are deeply grateful for each and every one of you.

🙌 Thank you for the countless ways you contribute to our community—your efforts are greatly appreciated. 🙌

Paying special tribute to Margaret Broad who died on Saturday 8 June, in her 100th year. Margaret is described in our '40 years of Hospice Waikato' book as "... a softly spoken Scottish lady ... quite determined ... and the most organised person I've ever seen". Hospice Waikato was founded by Margaret in 1981. It is hard to imagine there are many families in the Waikato who haven't benefited from her vision, her energy and her understanding of the importance of dying with dignity and wrapping care around the patient and their families. Rest in Peace Margaret.

We'd love to see you at our Matariki Remembrance Service on Sunday the 23rd of June. All the details are included below. Don't forget to RSVP!

We'd be delighted if you took a moment to read our most recent newsletter - https://shorturl.at/OI7ld

On behalf of Hospice Waikato, we want to say a heartfelt thank you to the Hamilton Fire Brigade for choosing Hospice Waikato as the recipient of the funds they raised from the sixth hole at Cambridge Golf Club.⛳ We also want to thank everyone who participated, including Fire Emergency New Zealand members, their families, and friends. Your generosity and support mean so much to us.

👨‍🚒Here is a wonderful message from Craig, the Hamilton Fire Station Senior Station Officer: “As part of this special day, we decided to seize the opportunity to give back to a worthy cause in our community. Having previously been involved with the services of Hospice Waikato, it felt like a perfect fit, aligning with the medical assistance we provide through our occupation.”

Thanks again to the incredible generosity of our local firefighters and their friends, this donation will greatly support the essential services that Hospice Waikato provides to our community.👨‍🚒🚒🏌️‍♂️🏌️‍♀️🌟

Here's a glimpse of Brock Vuleta's beaming smile as he received the keys to his brand new T Roc Life Volkswagen 2024! Congratulations again on winning the Hospice Waikato Bucket List Banquet 2024 Car Raffle 🙌

"Hospice were very sensitive, very patient and very supportive." - Israel, husband of hospice patient

Consider making a donation today to help us continue providing compassionate care and support to patients and families in need. www.hospicewaikato.org.nz/donate