The Hub issue 216

050.80.70.51.920

UPDATE SEPT/OCT

6 Nov 2020

Save Your Hospice
Hits Quarter of a Million Milestone!!

Katharine House hit a major milestone at the end of
October! Due to the sterling efforts of our supporters the
Save Your Hospice campaign totals topped a quarter of
a million!!

The amount raised so far reflects the tremendous support
of our local community for their local hospice. It just
shows how important the charity is to so many people out
there and it’s really heartening. We are also really thrilled
by the amazing ways people are getting behind us in such
challenging times. There are some absolutely fantastic
things going on, and people are making huge personal
commitments to support the hospice in raising funds.

Stella Machin making facemasks

We really can’t thank each and every one of them enough for everything that they’re doing for us. From baking
and making to running and skydiving! Matt Marlow (above) ran an incredible 10km a day throughout October
and topped it with a half marathon on 31st of the month which raised a wonderful £2,500. Weston Road
Academy year 10 pupils Josh Sargeant and friends Callum Wright, Morgan Riley & Joshua Buckley
completed a 24 hour Gameathon raising over £700 and super star bakers Chloe Hamilton and April Hughes
spent their half term holidays making delicious cup cakes raising over £700 between them. Read more about
how our wonderful supporters are helping us inside!

See our latest hospice update inside …

Hospice Update

Sadly we are now facing a second wave of the COVID 19 pandemic, the rate of
infection across the country is growing at a considerable rate, and a new national
lockdown is underway. Thanks to everybody’s efforts and hard work since the start
of the pandemic, we have managed to continue to deliver safe and excellent care to
our patients and their families but in order for this to continue it is vital that everybody
continues to adhere to safe working practices and to the government’s national
lockdown guidance. By doing this we can reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission
within the hospice to the lowest reasonably practicable level.

The need for vigilance is emphasized by the fact that we have had an outbreak on
the inpatient unit, with two patients and nine members of staff testing positive, but
three more staff isolated. It is essential that we all play our part by following the
rules, reducing footfall into the hospice and staying within the relevant zones.

Meetings
Face to Face meetings are to be avoided wherever possible and we are asking staff to use zoom instead. There
will be some exceptions, employees attending 121 meetings will be given the choice to have a distanced face to
face meeting (in visors) and occasionally some care meetings will be face to face but this will be with a maximum
of 6 people in the Hospice Hub (in visors) and only with KHH personnel. Face masks and/or visors must be worn
even if social distancing of 1 metre plus can be maintained. Masks can be removed to aid communication but
only as long as a visor is worn and must be replaced before leaving the meeting.

Visiting
Staff and visitors must use the hand gel on entry and wear a face covering on entering and moving through the
Hospice. 2m social distancing markings are in place in our covered walkway and people may need to queue to
enter reception as the number of visitors permitted in reception is now limited to 2 at a time.

Volunteering
Unfortunately due to the latest government announcement we find ourselves
having to close our shops and place many of our staff on furlough. We have
asked shop managers to contact their volunteers to ensure they are up to
date. In regards to volunteer support in the hospice and Business Centre,
remaining mindful of restricting footfall in all of our buildings, we are reliant on
volunteer support, particularly in certain areas.

The health and safety of all of our staffing groups is paramount and on the Staff and volunteers at our
understanding that there is work available and that volunteers wish to come in Hanley Big Shop pre pandemic
to volunteer, we are agreeable to this, so long as any arrangements remain
within COVID guidance. Our sincere thanks to each and every member of our
volunteer team for your ongoing support, passion and understanding.

Furlough
The second lockdown means we are forced to close all our shops. We explored the possibility of keeping some
open, but it is clear this would break the Government’s intentions, which would damage our reputation.

The Government’s Job Retention Scheme has been extended until 30 March 2021, whilst the new Job Support
Scheme (which we intended to use) has been cancelled. We will be furloughing many staff again. Last time we
knew we had Government grants to assist us (in particular £365,000 from the business rate grant). We were
able to deploy this to support topping up wages. This time we do not have this support. Therefore we will pay
either 80% of an employee’s average earnings from August to October or the minimum wage for an employee’s
contracted hours, whichever is the higher. This decision will be reviewed if we receive specific government grants
in the future. We cannot use the money being received from the Emergency Appeal as this is being donated in
order to enable us to keep our care services going.

Hospice Staff Walk the Run

Elaine Hinton and Angela Chalmers (right) will be getting their walking
shoes on and ‘Walking the Run’ on 5 December (lockdown permitting)
for Save Your Hospice. Along with a group of colleagues and family
members they'll be walking an 11 mile route round Stafford to raise
some funds towards our emergency campaign target!

Ange says .. If you live in Stafford look out for us on 5th! We will be
dressing up so you'll definitely spot us! There will be me, Elaine, Chloe
Siddall, Laura Wilkes, Rebecca Rhodes, Vanessa Steele, and Martin
Elliott. It was Martin's idea. We wanted to do something to raise
awareness of the hospice and support the emergency campaign to
save our care services. We'll be walking via patient’s homes and
hopefully raising some money from passers by and neighbours.

You can support the Walk here
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/walk-the-run20

The route is from the Castle to the Railway station up to Stone Road and Beaconside, over the Tixall bridge
to Weeping Cross, down Radford Bank and through St Leonards back to the Hospice.
Fingers crossed for good weather !!!

Training Update

All of our complementary therapists have now trained in the M Technique (hands and
feet) a gentle therapeutic treatment suitable for the frailest of patients which will become
an additional part of the care we offer. Training is now being rolled out across our care
teams with Hospice at Home and Embrace the first teams to receive the updates. The
Living Well Service (Day Therapies) and IPU are next on the list. Hospice at Home and
Embrace have also been updating their manual handling training during the pandemic. All
training takes place under COVID secure guidelines and follows strict infection control
procedures.

Thank you again to every one of you for the part you are
playing, as we work together to find our way through
these difficult times.

We will keep you updated, through the staff-information
page on the website.
www.khhospice.org.uk/content/staff-information

Retail Update

Sadly all our shops are now closed and
donations suspended during the new
lockdown. However our ebay store will
remain open
https://charity.ebay.co.uk/charity/Kathari
ne-House-Retail-Ltd/127912 and our
charity Christmas cards are available
for purchase online on the link below
https://www.khhospice.org.uk/store/view
-products/45

Pauline and Sarah from Hednesford braved the rain for the
Hednesford Farmers and Craft on Sat 31 October. The event
was extremely successful and will be repeated in December
lockdown permitting. Angela Gray and our volunteers were also
out in Penkridge with a KHH Christmas stall on 4 November.

Clare’s Hospice Cycle

Staff Nurse Clare Kirkbride
has been enjoying some
great scenery lately! She's
completed her 150 miles
and raised nearly £950
so far!!
https://www.justgiving.com/f
undraising/clare-kirkbride

Hospice Care Week

We celebrated Hospice Care
Week again this year! With
the world dealing with the
effects of COVID-19, expert
end of life care is more
important than ever and we
wanted to mark the date with
a special get together. A big
thank you to Maxine of our
catering team who made a
delicious cake for our
celebrations!

Thank yous!

A huge thank you to Dharmaraj Rai and the Stafford
Nepalese Society for their very generous donation of £751.
Another incredible boost to our emergency campaign!
Thanks so much to Dharmaraj whose mum was cared for at
Katharine House and sadly died last year.

Gemma’s Uni Cycle Challenge

Massive congratulations to Gemma Smith from Alpha Manufacturing
and Bri-Stor Systems who raised in excess of £1000 in support of our
campaign. Gemma learned to ride a uni cycle before and during the first
lockdown,and eventually cycled 600m around her works factories! Well
done Gemma! And a big thank you to all supported and donated.

Success in the London Marathon

Congratulations to all those completing the Virtual London Marathon for us this year! Our marvellous runners
have raised over £7862 between them! They are Karen Clayton, Richard Rea, Dale Perrins of Fit Box
Personal Training Studio, Steve Kelly, Fiona Bradley, Jennifer Spiers and Nick and Lisa Anthony. Nick
and Lisa only decided to do the run, with minimal training, shortly before the race and managed to raise nearly
£1400! A huge thank you to everyone all for all the hard work, commitment and training, and for raising such an
amazing amount for Katharine House!

Sky diving for KHH!

Trustee and Head of Urgent Care NHS Foundation Trust Allison Cape is stepping
out of her comfort zone for us with a daring skydive later in the year. Allison said …
I’ve seen and heard first-hand, the positive difference that KHH makes to support
people at the end of their lives. The staff consistently go well over and above the call
of duty and care deeply about patients, families and their services. The pandemic is a
real threat to this much valued local hospice. This skydive is not something I ever
thought I’d do or wanted to! – so it is very much a challenge out of my comfort zone!
Huge thanks to Allison and all those busy fundraising for their sky dives in support of
the hospice including Harry Shaw and Lisa Howells.

Young Supporters Get Involved

We have lots of young supporters helping to raise funds. Gymnast Poppy Carson turned her attention to
running this year to raise funds for Save Your Hospice. And she's raised a cracking £640!
She said .. I am not a good runner and I don’t particularly like it very much but I am going to challenge
myself to help Katharine House.
For someone who doesn't enjoy running she's done a wonderful job!
9 year old Chloe Hamilton rolled up her sleeves recently and got stuck in to making some spooky bakes
to sell and raised an amazing £205! While 10 year old April Hughes spent all her half term making 500
cup cakes and raised a terrific £523!

Neil Mason Sings

Neil Mason who has entertained our Day Therapies patients so beautifully on many occasions will be
performing live on Facebook on 14 November to raise funds for our campaign, follow him on his page here
https://www.facebook.com/neilmason.singer @neilmason.singer and direct message your requests!

Thank you again to every one of you for the part you are
playing, as we work together to find our way through
these difficult times.

We will keep you updated, through the staff-information

page on the website. Call us for tickets

www.khhospice.org.uk/content/staff-information

01785 270808

15k Boost to Emergency Campaign

A massive thank you to The Community Foundation
for Staffordshire and The National Emergencies
Trust coronavirus appeal for a donation of an
incredible £15,000 towards Save Your Hospice. We
can't thank them enough for this amazing boost to
our emergency appeal.

ScrewFix Support Save Your Hospice

A huge thank you to Jo Walsh (Warehouse Team Member),
Antonio Gomes (Team Manager), Mike Ward (Warehouse
Operations Manager) and everyone at Wincanton plc for
Screwfix Stafford Distribution Centre for their wonderful
donation of £1,000!

The amount is a cumulative donation from all their fundraising
activities on our behalf including football cards, a cake sale
and raffle.

Great British Drive In

A huge thank you to The Great British Drive In and
Sandon Hall for raising £1265 at their recent Quiz,
despite the event being postponed initially due to bad
weather.

Thanks also to all those who attended and donated.

Chippy Teas help raise funds

We have received tremendous support from the Britannia
Fish Bar Stafford who are opening up specially
for us on Sunday evenings throughout November and
donating the proceeds! That’s five Sundays worth and the
first two weeks alone raised a wonderful £2194!
Thanks also to all those who enjoyed a chippy tea – see
you next Sunday!

Preserves For Save Your Hospice

A big thank you to the ladies of the Rotary Club of Stafford Knot who
are selling their delicious jams and chutneys in support of our campaign.
KHH volunteer Joan Potter is also selling her lovely marmalade so if
anyone would like a jar please see Lynne or April in Voluntary Services
[email protected]

Schools Support Save Your Hospice

We’ve had lots of schools on our side this month with many raising money for our emergency campaign through
their school mufti days just before half term. A huge thank you goes to the pupils and staff of Walton High
School Stafford (above left) for their non uniform day on 9 October which raised a massive £2282! Also to
King Edward VI High School, Classes One and Three at Woodseaves CE Primary for their dress like a
farmer day, Barnfields Primary School for their pink and purple non uniform day and the staff at Weston
Road Academy (above right) for their Halloween fancy dress fundraising!

5 year old Alfie Belcher (above middle) didn’t think £1 was enough as a donation for his school mufti day so
with the help of his Mum and Dad he ended up raising a terrific £290 for Save Your Hospice! Well done Alfie!

Adnrea Braves Storm Alex for KHH

Fundraising Coordinator Andrea Pugh along with Janine
Moreton and friends from Run Together Baswich Run 4
Fun have raised an amazing £1500! When we were all
sheltering inside this committed bunch were running a very
wet 10k through storm Alex on the night of Saturday 3
October! What amazing support for our emergency appeal!

Letitia’s Snowdon Challenge Kay’s Tray Bakes

Nurse Letitia Burton is HCA Kay Bent’s tray bakes have raised
taking on the Snowdon an amazing £400 so far! Well done Kay!
Challenge in December.
She'll be climbing to the
summit with boyfriend Luke
and step dad Nick this
November to raise funds for
our emergency campaign.

They’ll be walking the Minors
track which is 8 miles long
(there and back) and 2,372 ft
which should take approx 6
hours in total to complete!

IQVIA Waklk for KHH!

IQVIA's Dunston Office have been stepping out for Save Your
Hospice. Joanne Redding and colleagues enjoyed a lovely autumn
walk through Dovedale and Ilam recently and have raised over
£700 for our emergency campaign. They'd initially hoped to climb
Snowdon this year as a charity challenge but their accommodation
was booked and then rebooked and finally cancelled due to
COVID rules. Undeterred they planned and completed a walk
closer to home!

Lottery Winner

KHH supporter Benjamin Howe is looking pleased with
himself and so he should be. He was one of our £1,000 lottery
jackpot winners this month and he's only been a player since
September! Not bad for £1 per week!
Benjamin said ... I didn't think I'd ever win, I just signed up to
help the hospice. I've joined one or two of these things but
never won. It'll be really helpful just now as I have a problem
with a leak in my conservatory roof and it’ll help to put that
right. It’s fantastic really, my wife and I are in our 80’s and this
is a really welcome boost to our funds!

Rachel’s Yeovil to Lands End Cycle!

Rachel Jones and David Hill cycled from Yeovil to Lands End in memory of Rachel’s
mum Karen Jones. And have raised almost £1,500!! Rachel is also hoping her
workplace will provide match funding for our appeal. Watch this space for more details
next month!
Rachel said … Katharine House are a wonderful charity that care for people when they
need it most. They cared for Mum and my adopted grandparents while they fought
cancer. We have drunk their tea, laughed with their nurses, cried on their sofas and
slept in their rooms, now it’s time to give something back.

Thank you

A huge thank you to everone who has supported our campaign and made
donations financial or otherwise - Asda Cannock for food and toiletries, Victor
Medical Manufacturing for facemasks, Cup a Cha Stafford for all they're doing to help
us to raise funds towards our Save Your Hospice target, VW Stafford for holding their
Halloween mufti day in support of KHH, the ladies of the Rotary Club of Stafford Knot
who are selling their delicious preserves for us, Alan Bott and family for their donation of
£,1000, Westgate Group Stafford for their amazing donation of £2000, Zero Seal
Systems Ltd for their spooky bake off, the winning cake is pictured right!

Find your inner resilience during difficult times

Resilience refers to our ability to cope with the
normal stress of life as well as being able to
bounce back from crises.

Negative thoughts and emotions are a natural and
understandable reaction to what is happening right
now but our own thoughts can really begin to weigh
us down…things that we are worrying about, things
that might never happen, things that we can’t
control and might not be able to influence.

A more resilient way to view things is to focus less on what we can’t control and more on what we can control
or at least influence. Positive, resilient people think about what they can do, rather than what they cannot do.
Reframing our thoughts to think about the things that we can do something about is often a useful way to stay
calm and focused in challenging times.

Resilience isn’t a personality trait – it’s something we can all take steps to achieve and building resilience
helps us to be able to focus on things that we are in control of and park the things we can do nothing about.
So how do we build resilience? MIND, the mental health charity, have the following suggestions

Build your support network remember that whatever you’re going through that’s causing you stress, you
don’t have to cope with it alone. Sometimes just telling people close to you how you’re feeling can make a big
difference.

Give yourself a break learning to be kinder to yourself in general can help you control the amount of
pressure you feel in different situations.

Look after your physical health taking steps to look after your physical health can help you look after your
mental health, such as getting enough sleep, being active and eating healthily.

Make some lifestyle changes - practice being straightforward and assertive, use relaxation techniques,
develop your interests and hobbies, make time for your friends and find balance in your life.

Some of these may not be easy but it is more important than ever to dig deep and find our inner
resilience during such difficult and uncertain times.

A reminder of our Employee Assistance Programme – telephone 0800 107 6585 scheme number
72740.

See more

Baby News Leavers:
Eva Barker – Retail Assistant, Newport
The stork has been Sheila Bennington – Shop Manager
busy recently! Kathryn Booth – Family Support Team Care Co-
Alice Culshaw and
husband Alex ordinator
welcomed baby Joanne Cockerill – Staff Nurse
daughter Freya Rose Carole Fairclough – Retail Assistant, Pound Shop
on 15 October. Mary Harvey – Housekeeper
Embrace HCA, Amy Katrina Hutchins – Trust Fundraising Assistant
Crane gave birth to a
baby boy, George on Shane Oakley - Driver
27 August weighing Sophie Parrington – Embrace HCA – remains on bank
8lb 4oz and Dr Amanda Rides – Retail Assistant, Stoke
Rebekah Bourne and Matthew Shaw – Retail Assistant, Warehouse
husband James also Luke Squires – Retail Assistant, Warehouse
had a baby boy called Ruth Wharton – Embrace HCA – remains on bank
Thomas Alfred Claire Wilkinson – Retail Assistant, TBS Cannock
Bourne on 22
September weighing Baby Thomas Bourne Movers:
8lb 14 oz! Congratulations to Mel Milne who has been appointed
to the position of Deputy Manager at Newport.
Congratulations
from all at KHH! Retirement:
As featured in the last edition of the Hub, we wish
Annie Southall a long and happy retirement and send
our sincere thanks for her support of the In Patient
Unit.

Freya Rose A huge thank you also goes out to retail volunteer
Margaret Alebon who is ninety years old and has
decided that the time is right for her to retire from the
Eccleshall shop. She has been a volunteer for over 17
years!

Amy and Kieran Crane’s baby George

New Trustees

KHH has new Trustees ready to take up their roles after their official appointments at the AGM on 1 December.
They are …

Brett Phillips – a Chartered Accountant by profession Brett’s last position prior to taking retirement was Group
Finance Director with Portmeirion Group PLC after a long career with the company for nearly 30 years between
1988 and 2017.

Francis Gaffney – Managing Director of three Group Engineering Companies in the UK and overseas Francis
has also been a volunteer in Day Therapies and previously a volunteer carer on IPU. He was involved in the Lean
On Us initiative and has acted as an ambassador for collecting donations for the Hospice.

Peter Catchpole – Peter has recently retired from the Civil Service after holding several senior positions with
HMRC where he led organisational change projects and sat on numerous national boards. Latterly he worked on
learning delivery, performance management and professional development.

The next Hub will be delivered on Friday 4 December 2020.
Email all content to: [email protected]
Content deadline: Friday 27 November 2020.