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Volunteer is right behind hospice campaign
UPLIFTING ... St Clare's volunteer Judith Bassett is backing the Gazette's campaign.
JUDITH Bissett has volunteered at St Clare’s Hospice for the last 15 years – and now she’s asking the people of South Tyneside to support the charity she loves so dearly.
The 62-year-old said: “I just love interacting with the people at the hospice – they give me such inspiration.
“I saw an advertisement for volunteers and thought at first ‘do I really want to work with the dying?’
“But then I just thought, ‘yes, I do’. This place is so different to what you’d expect.
“You would think it was so morbid, but we have a great laugh together.
“You should have heard us playing Pictionary the other day – I thought we were going to get told off for making too much noise!”
The mum-of-two is a daycare volunteer at the hospice in Primrose Terrace, Jarrow, and does everything from helping patients eat their lunch to running games of bingo.
The retired nursery nurse says being at the hospice was a huge help to her when her mum, Mary Bell, passed away 12 years ago.
WHY YOU SHOULD CARE FOR ST CLARE’S
Our turn to show we care for St Clare’sHow you can help St Clare’s Hospice’It’s all about giving people dignity’Family’s appeal as face of our campaign dies
She said: “We found out that my mam had cancer in the January, and she was gone by early February.
“Everyone at the hospice was brilliant, and all the patients offered me support.
“I think that’s why it’s so great for them, because it really helps to be around people who know what you’re going through.
“My mam’s doctor has suggested that she went into St Oswald’s Hospice in Newcastle, but I was adamant that she went into St Clare’s, because I knew that the care she’d get would be second to none – but unfortunately, she never made it.”
Mrs Bissett, who lives with her husband, Raymond, 67, in Felling, Gateshead, added: “Being in the hospice was very comforting, because people understood why I was upset.
“I think a lot of people, when they’re older and sat at home, if they get a pain, they think they’re the only one.
“But at the hospice they can talk about it and they’ll find out that it’s not so bad.
“I think a lot of people like to just be at home by themselves, but for some it’s important to have the security of being somewhere where they can press a button if they need something and someone will be there straight away.”
The hospice provides palliative care to the people of South Tyneside with life-limiting illnesses.
It has annual running costs of £2m – £1.4m of which it must raise itself.
But this year it is facing a £50,000 shortfall, and the Gazette has launched its c/o St Clare’s campaign to help raise the funds.
Mrs Bissett added: “St Clare’s is very important, and I think people in South Shields, Hebburn and Jarrow will get behind it because it’s a necessary place to have.”
Twitter: @ShieldsGazVicki
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Tuesday 22 May 2012
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