Hospiscare Together Magazine Autumn 2020

A day in the life…
of a Hospiscare nurse
Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, our specialist ward in Exeter has remained open
and our nurses have continued to deliver end-of-life care to patients in their own homes.
We asked two of our nurses to share their experiences of being on the frontline during
the pandemic.
“I’m Julie Wakley, Ward Manager at Hospiscare’s palliative
care ward in Exeter, and I’ve been a Hospiscare nurse for 17
years.
“The 12-bed ward has carried on, ‘business as usual’,
during the coronavirus pandemic. We’ve continued to accept
admissions 7 days-a-week.
“Today I spent time with a gentleman who is dying. His
daughters have just arrived and they have travelled over
100 miles to be here. Over the past couple of days, I have had
several conversations with them over the phone supporting
them in making the decisions about when to come.
“We see people for such a short window of their life but they share
with us so much. I think that makes the job; you become passionate
about what you do to make it as good as we can for them.
“A simple hug or just a touch on the shoulder to support
families; these are the things we haven’t been able to do
because of the distance we need to keep at the moment to
keep everybody safe. I think our nurses find it tough because
they can’t do the job they normally do; smiling and laughing
with patients as, although people are headed towards the end
of life, there is still a lot of laughter and enjoyment at times.”
“My name is Sasha Turner and I am
a nurse with Hospiscare@Home.
“We are quite visible in the
community and we have to put PPE
on outside the patient’s house
before we can go in. A lot of
passers-by have witnessed us
putting on PPE and plenty of times I
have been congratulated or
applauded and people have said
‘Well done nurse!’ It makes me feel
very proud to be a frontline worker.
“It is a completely different way of
life at the moment but we just get
on as a team and do it. It has been
challenging but I love being a nurse;
I’ve been a nurse since I was 18.
“Coronavirus is absolutely awful but
it’s not going to stop me looking
after my patients.”
8 | Because every day matters