Hana goes the extra mile for St David’s Hospice Care
Last week, Chepstow Licensee Hana Kubiszova (pictured) from consulting civil & structural engineers Adept Consulting (UK) Ltd, hosted a cake sale to raise vital funds for Chepstow’s charity St David's Hospice Care, raising an impressive £137.
St David’s is a charity very close to Hana’s heart as she explained to us recently; “Back in my 'nursing days' I worked for St David’s and travelled near and far to patients’ homes to provide much needed support. Before my time with the charity I had only worked in in-patient hospices and I was not convinced it would work somehow…looking after a very ill person in their own house with limited equipment, no 24/7 back up from doctors, other nurses and no pharmacy accessible”
Hana continued, “My first few shifts were a bit of a struggle. I found it hard to be on my own and with just one patient, especially during long night shifts. Also it was challenging to make decisions in the early hours of the morning, with my brain not functioning at its best. I have learnt a lot. Not just as a nurse, but I was surprised to see so much love, commitment and dedication. When situations got difficult, somehow people worked together and supported each other. I think this made it more bearable for patients and their families. And got me through the night at times”
St David’s Hospice Care is a charity providing palliative care to terminally ill people and their families in their own homes. Their work reaches across Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport, Torfaen, South and Mid Powys with a very dedicated team caring for over 3,200 patients and families every year. In order to provide much needed home care and deliver all other services available to patients (e.g. day care centre, Unicorn-children’s services, complimentary therapies, bereavement support, cares group, education to fellow professionals) they need to raise just over £7.5 million every year. This is an exciting time for the charity, as a new hospice is being built in Newport. The work started exactly one year ago. Although Welsh Government will provide £3m towards the cost of the £5m 15 bed specialist in-patient hospice, additional funding is needed now more than ever.
So, in addition to hosting a cake sale, Hana is also in training to run the London Marathon this year, to raise additional funds for the hospice. “It has been my dream to run London’s Marathon for many years now” Hana explained “2017 seemed to be the year to do it – I turned 40, our business Adept Consulting is doing well and our boys have outgrown nappies some time ago now so I thought…the time is right.”
As well as being Hana’s charity of choice, St David’s is also Basepoint Chepstow’s chosen charity. Basepoint is owned by The ACT Foundation, a leading grant making charity dedicated to improving the quality of life of those in need. As such, each centre is dedicated to fundraising for a selected charity and The ACT Foundation match funds money raised by the chosen charity. By the end of this financial year, The ACT Foundation will have donated £30,000 in match funding to St David’s Hospice Care.
Chloe Geoghegan, Assistant Centre Manager at Basepoint said “We’d like to wish Hana the very best of luck as she trains to take on the challenge of the London Marathon to raise funds for St David’s. We’d also like to thank our Licensees for helping Hana raise £137 by joining in with her recent cake sale at the centre. We’re proud to have such a wonderfully supportive community here at Basepoint Chepstow”.
If you’d like to support Hana to raise much needed funds for St.David’s, you can access her just giving page via this link.