Helen & Douglas House is joining forces with hospices across the UK to celebrate the first ever Hospice Care Week, an awareness raising week 8-14 October, to dispel some of the myths and misconceptions about what hospice care means. The week is organized by the charity Help the Hospices and the theme is ‘Be Surprised’.

Clare Edwards, Director of Clinical Services, Helen & Douglas House said; ‘When people are asked what they think a hospice provides, many think of sad places proving end-of-life care. But many children, young adults and their families stay with us for medically-supported short breaks for several, if not many, years. Whilst we provide specialist medical care and end-of-life care, we also offer young people the opportunity to have normal experiences they don’t often or never have, because of their life-limited condition; like a visit to a café or a pub, or a shopping trip. We can also do special things like a trip to a music festival or the London Eye, or arrange a visit from a pet monkey or penguin. It is about making the most of life, even when that life is short.’      

To mark Hospice Care Week 8-14 October, Helen & Douglas House is having a changing gallery of photos and video clips on the charity’s website, showing some of the words chosen by young people, families, staff and volunteers at the hospice houses, to represent what hospice care means to them. To view them visit our homepage. Also follow us on Facebook and Twitter during the week too!  

Help the Hospices will be gathering photos and tweeted words from people across the country.  Choice, life, laughter, friends and home are among the thought-provoking words that people have already sent in. A gallery of words will be shared on the photo-sharing site Flickr, and people are urged to Tweet their word between 8 to 14 October - Hospice care is: [Your Word] #hospicecareweek www.besurprised.org.uk

Clare Edwards explained: “Hospice care has different associations for different people – positive, challenging and sometimes very surprising. By asking people to choose just one word to represent what hospice care means to them, Help the Hospices aims to create a picture of what hospice work really means to the local community.”

For more information about Hospice Care Week visit www.besurprised.org.uk