An Ilkeston-based firm of funeral directors has donated fifty Winter car car kits to help a hospice nursing team stay on the roads this Winter.
The kits – including de-icer, a window scraper, anti-freeze and torch – have been passed to Treetops Hospice at Home registered nurses and Health Care Assistants by Bespoke Funeral Care.
The nursing team provide one-to-one care for patients at the very end of life in their own homes overnight. They also have a Roaming Nurse Service which responds to multiple calls for assistance from families every night.
Managing Director, William Barron, explained why the donation was so important to the family firm: “Treetops Hospice is such a well-known and universally trusted care provider based across the East Midlands. It’s a charity whose name and presence are hard to miss in the local area. We often hear of the compassion and hard work that Treetops nurses have shown as care givers in the local community.
“We wanted in some small way to acknowledge their dedication to provide the highest level of care to local families. It is their dedication that inspires us in our own work. They are simply an inspiration to us all.
“We hope that the nurses find the car care kits useful on cold autumn and winter mornings, when they arrive at their cars and find their windscreens frozen over.”
Sandra Burgin, Treetops Hospice at Home Health Care Assistant, explained how the kits will help the nursing team: “The kits are so helpful. In the winter, if we’re with a patient for a couple of hours, by the time we return to our car, it’s covered in frost. Now we can get going more quickly and onto the next patient, rather than wasting time waiting for the car to defrost.”
Bespoke Funeral Care wants to continue working closely with Treetops in the future. Mr. Barron added: "In a climate of austerity and an ever-increasing strain on public services, it is often falling to charities to provide much-needed and vital services. We see it as professional courtesy for all local businesses to increase their support for local charities and ensure the right help and support reaches the people who need it most.
“When we visited Treetops Hospice earlier this year, our team was really impressed with how welcoming the facilities are, and the range of different services available such as the Wellbeing Café and the Tears to Laughter peer support bereavement group.
“We particularly find Treetops ‘Every Day Counts’ booklet useful for families to note down their funeral wishes and it’s now something we give to many of our families.”
Last year, Treetops Hospice provided more than 34,000 hours of care for patients in the local community.
Treetops welcomes support from local businesses. For more information, please contact Adela Appleby, Head of Community Relationships, on 0115 949 1264 or visit the Treetops website: www.treetops.org.uk