Charity

A local charity occupying a special place in the heart of the community is getting ready to mark a special milestone this year.

2022 marks 40 years since St Luke’s Hospice Plymouth welcomed its fi rst patients. St Luke’s Commander Crowley and Dr Sheila Cassidy today, the main provider of end of life care for the city heralded the arrival of a completely new concept for the and its surroundings areas, looking after around 300 city - specialist care for terminally ill people as in-patients patients on any one day. in a home-from-home environment, rather than in ‘Quite simply though, we would never have come into hospital, to ensure their comfort and dignity at the end existence – let alone still be helping local families four of their lives. decades on – without the unstinting support we receive From this, grew the St Luke’s of today, looking after from the community around us. the majority of its patients at home and at University ‘All who give to the hospice, whether as volunteers Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, with only those with the or through donations and fundraising, do so in the most complex symptoms needing knowledge that they are admission to Turnchapel. What has not changed since its beginnings though, is the charity’s “ ‘Quite simply though, we would never have come into existence – supporting something of priceless value, the highly skilled, compassionate care people need need to rely on support from let alone still be helping local at the end of their lives so that individuals and businesses in the community to keep providing its specialist services at no cost to families four decades on – without the unstinting support we receive they can feel as at ease as possible and make precious memories with loved ones. patients or their families. That’s why, as well as refl ecting on from the community around us. ” ‘A huge thank-you to all our supporters. Please keep doing four decades of compassionate what you do because we are care that has touched the lives of so many, St Luke’s is going to need you more than ever as we strive to meet the using its 40th anniversary to express heartfelt thanks increasing demand on our services.’ to all its supporters for their ceaseless volunteering and fundraising, plus the legacies that play such an important Key statistics part in helping the charity plan for its future. National: It is predicted that the number of people From participating in its weekly lottery to donating to requiring palliative care will increase by 42% by 2040. its charity shops and taking on sponsored challenges like Local: We are an ageing population. The number Midnight Walk and Men’s Day Out, such commitment of people aged over 85 years in Devon will from the community has enabled St Luke’s to survive increase by 29% by 2025. despite the ever-increasing costs of running its 24-hour In the last six years demand for St Luke’s care has service 365 days a year. increased by 37%. In addition to expert, hands-on medical care, its teams provide not only practical advice to patients and their Over 50% of hospice care is delivered at home with the families but vital emotional support, too - warmth, remaining in hospital. Only 5% of care is delivered in a sensitivity and kindness that make an important traditional hospice building. diff erence to them at the most diffi cult time of their lives. From its humble beginnings in a converted suburban Chief Executive of St Luke’s Steve Statham said: ‘What house to the widely known and greatly respected service started in the early 1980s as the idea of a small group of it provides today, it is hard to imagine our community parishioners led by the Rev John Watson of St Andrew’s without St Luke’s. One of the innovators from its early Church in Plymouth grew to become what St Luke’s is days, who was central to shaping the high-calibre local

hospice care we have forty years on, shares her refl ections. Dr Sheila Cassidy, Medical Director from 1981-1991: For many, Dr Sheila Cassidy is the name most synonymous with the history of St Luke’s. A trained doctor with experience in looking after people with cancer, she was appointed its fi rst Medical Director in 1981, spending the next ten years leading the small team devoted to looking after local people with terminal illness as inpatients at Syrena House in Plymstock. This was the large house that – thanks to huge community spirit – had been purchased and converted to enable the new concept of specialised, 24-hour care for patients in a safe yet homely environment. Building on her medical knowledge, and learning as she went, Sheila observed the marked diff erence bespoke, holistic care made to the quality of these patients’ lives. Inspired to advocate for the hospice movement, she gave lectures to fellow healthcare professionals locally and nationally as well as overseas, combining long shifts at the hospice with tireless campaigning so that organisations far and wide got to hear about the pioneering work of St Luke’s and were motivated to follow its example. Sheila worked with St Luke’s for ten years before moving to Derriford Hospital, joining the radiotherapy department and setting up the Mustard Tree drop-in centre for people receiving cancer treatment. She said: ‘As a young doctor based at the radiotherapy department at Freedom Fields Hospital in Plymouth, I came to realise dying people need more than just treatment for their physical symptoms. Since I lived at the hospital and had free time in the evenings, I’d sit and hold their hands, just listening and asking questions. I saw the diff erence it made to them to be accepted how they were, whatever they were feeling. ‘Our work at Syrena House was palliative care plus psychotherapy. It was highly skilled as well as diff erent. Whereas, traditionally, hospital doctors had shielded terminally ill people from the reality of their prognosis, our approach was to work with the truth, coupled with kindness. Once we established that they really were in the last stages of their life, we helped them understand what was happening to them and gradually come to a place of acceptance. ‘Families saw what we were doing and word spread, driving up support for all the fundraising needed to keep the hospice going. ‘All of us working there were like a family. I was close to everyone, from the nurses to the offi ce and kitchen staff . We were a community, putting patients and their families at ease, despite our very cramped quarters. ‘The move to the purpose-built unit at Turnchapel doubled our beds to 20. We had loads more space and extra nurses, too, but though it was larger, it was no less loving. I feel very proud to have been part of the hospice. Being Medical Director was something I just got on with because that was my work, but I do realise what a great privilege that was.’ n