Nurses for Night Care

• What we have achieved in the last few months thanks to donors like you:

Since January 2019 to October 2019, we have received 569 referrals to the service, and we have provided 1,865 nights of nursing care at home for 569 patients with non-cancer conditions such as Dementia, or Heart Disease. Meaning that in the last ten months, Nurses For Night Care have directly supported 5,690 people. 

Each night of care costs around €320 and this gives someone the choice and dignity to spend their final hours at home, with their loved ones and memories. The demand for this service increases rapidly every year...we couldn't have done it without you!

• Family of Nurses for Night Care patient talks about the service:

“Dementia can be quite sneaky in that it creeps up very gradually. For Tess, it started off with forgetfulness, lights left on at night, cooker left on, going down a number of times a week to collect her pension and getting so upset when she was told it was already collected. This was a very difficult time for Tess as she knew something was wrong but did not know what. It was very hard for the family as this strong, capable, loving, wonderful woman was gradually slipping away – the most painful was when she did not know her children or grandchildren…”

As Tess’s disease progressed, it was clear that a care plan had to be put in place with the Nurses for Night Care service stepping in during the final five nights.

Our nurse Ann was a crucial part of ‘Team Tess’ who all strived to make her last few days as comfortable as was humanly possible. Ann was someone who willingly took over Tess’s care. Her calm, reassuring nature meant that the family could leave Tess’s side without worry. We knew she was in confident, capable hands.”

• How the service works

Home is a place like no other and it’s no surprise so many of us want to spend our final days there with the people and comforts we love.
With your help The Irish Hospice Foundation’s Nurses for Night Care service can grant a final wish. This free, national service allows people with illnesses other than cancer to die in the comfort of their own homes with loved ones. The nurse steps in at a difficult time to provide professional medical care, emotional and physical support and give carers a chance to rest and recharge.

To date, there is no other service in Ireland that provides night nursing for non-cancer patients, accounting for 70% of the deaths in Ireland. Thank you so much for supporting this programme.

If you would like to receive further information on our Nurses for Night Care programme, please do get in touch at info@hospicefoundation.ie

Links:

• Our website

• What we have achieved in the last few months thanks to donors like you:

Faced with soaring demand for our Nurses for Night Care services, every year it gets harder and harder for us to meet the growing need. Put simply, without you, we’ll struggle to reach every patient who needs end-of-life night nursing care.
 

From January 2019 - August 2019 we have received 600 referrals. Thanks to your generosity we were there to deliver 1,225 nights of healthcare across the country.

Each night of care costs around €320 and this gives someone the choice and dignity to spend their final hours at home, with their loved ones and memories. The demand for this service increases rapidly every year...we couldn't have done it without you!

• A real life story told by one of our nurses:

"I remember arriving at John’s house one cold night near the end…

John was very weak, and it took him while to get to the door. But when he did, at his heel, not even up to his ankles… stood Daisy. At over 6-feet-tall, John and his wee, fluffy, white dog made an adorably odd couple.

I got him back into bed and made sure he was as comfortable as could be under the dire circumstances. John told me how he rescued Daisy from a pound in Dublin almost a decade earlier. How it was love at first sight. And the arrangements he’d made for her once he was gone. His disease had taken almost all the fight left in him. John was weary…
Yet when he spoke about his little Daisy, his eyes danced with pure love.
It’s moments like this that make me so profoundly grateful…
        
Because for people facing their final days, your support means everything. It means comfort… kindness... dignity... and the right to choose how and where their one life ends. For John, it meant precious hours wrapped in all the love a little dog named Daisy could give him.”  – Mary, Nurse for Night Care, Ireland.   

• How the service works

The nurses stay in the patient's home throughout the night, providing nursing care, practical help and reassurance to both patient and family. The service gives a significant support for families at a very difficult and stressing time in their lives.

The project will continue to be delivered in line with demand; to date there is no other service in Ireland which provides night nursing to people with a non-malignant illness. Thank you so much for supporting it!

If you would like to receive further information on our Nurses for Night Care programme, please do get in touch at info@hospicefoundation.ie