This episode discusses the impactful role of volunteers at East Anglian Children's Hospice, highlighting the experiences of volunteer Julia, and a family she has supported with her gardening skills. It emphasises the training and support that volunteers received, and that you don't need to be Monty Don to make a real difference to families.
Find out more about EACH www.each.org.uk/get-involved/volunteering/
Visit the Volunteering Discovery page https://improvinglivesnw.org.uk/get-involved/volunteering/volunteering-discovery-podcast/
Get in touch: jules.alderson@nhs.net
Volunteering Discovery is a Hospital Radio Norwich production for Norfolk and Waveney Integrated Care System.
Sarah (host): Hello and welcome to Volunteering Discovery.
Speaker:This is a podcast which takes you behind the scenes of volunteering in health
Speaker:and social care in Norfolk and Waveney.
Speaker:Volunteers enhance the experience of people accessing health and social
Speaker:care in a huge variety of ways.
Speaker:In our hospitals, our communities, and even from the comfort of their own homes.
Speaker:In each podcast, we'll be hearing from those who give their
Speaker:time supporting others and the people who work alongside them.
Speaker:I'm your host, Sarah, a volunteer coordinator working in the NHS.
Speaker:There are nearly 9, 000 children with life limiting conditions
Speaker:in the east of England.
Speaker:The children and their families need specialist provision, and
Speaker:a local organisation called East Anglian Children's Hospice, or
Speaker:EACH, provide much needed advice and support to the families involved.
Speaker:In today's episode, we'll be talking to some of the team at EACH to find out
Speaker:about the role that volunteers play, offering support to local families.
Speaker:We start our conversation meeting Anne, who tells us about the hospice and the
Speaker:activities volunteers can get involved in.
Anne:My name is Anne Rayner, and I am the volunteer coordinator for East
Anne:Anglian Children's Hospices here at the Nook in, just outside Norwich in Norfolk.
Anne:East Anglian Children's Hospices are a set up of three hospices, one here in
Anne:Norfolk, one in Ipswich in Suffolk, and the other in Milton in Cambridgeshire,
Anne:and they were, um, Set up first hospice was Milton, which was opened in 1989
Anne:as a direct result, really, of the actions of a nurse who recognized that
Anne:for children with life limiting or life threatening illnesses, maybe hospitals
Anne:weren't the ideal place for them to.
Anne:Fully access all the services that they needed, so that's where it
Anne:started for each with the first hospice there in Milton and the
Anne:other two followed quite quickly.
Anne:The original one in Norfolk was in Quidenham and that opened in 1998
Anne:and that was quickly followed by our hospice in Ipswich which was 1999.
Anne:So EACH is a children's hospice.
Anne:Predominantly, we are here to help children with life limiting
Anne:or life threatening illnesses.
Anne:But what I would say is that EACH has a very holistic approach.
Anne:We are here to help the whole family, and that includes the extended family.
Anne:Having a, um, child with additional needs, or a, an, an illness, the ripple
Anne:effect goes out throughout the whole family, so each is here to support the
Anne:whole family, in whatever way that is, be it through accessing counselling,
Anne:various therapies, art therapy, music therapy, um, play, specialists.
Anne:It's really to look after the whole family.
Anne:I look after a scheme called Help at Home.
Anne:It's a relatively small scheme within the service.
Anne:What it aims to do is provide practical support for families in their homes.
Anne:You know, life is busy for all of us, but when you have lots of additional
Anne:things to deal with, sometimes lots of hospital appointments, all sorts of
Anne:extra things on top of normal, family, busy, everyday life, it can be easy for
Anne:things, like for example, like the garden, to just become overwhelming to sort of
Anne:deal with on top of everything else.
Anne:It's a scheme completely aimed at providing practical support in the home,
Anne:and that can be as a regular support.
Anne:So some of the volunteers we have will visit families weekly
Anne:to help them just with cleaning, general household tasks, gardening.
Anne:Dog walking, things like that.
Anne:Or we also have some people who will be happy to help with what we call one off
Anne:tasks and they can be something bigger, such as if the garden has really got
Anne:out of hand, for example, you know, a few people could go in and sort of do
Anne:a garden clearance or just in the rung up to spring to make sure the garden
Anne:is neat and tidy, sort of ready for everything to start growing again.
Anne:Or tasks like decorating, helping to move home, that sort of thing, so
Anne:a few volunteers might get together and help with something like that.
Anne:I would say that volunteers get a lot out of this role and it can
Anne:be something that they like doing.
Anne:So if they particularly like gardening, it's hopefully
Anne:something that they enjoy as well.
Anne:Sarah (host): One of the volunteers who enjoys gardening is Julia.
Anne:We asked her how she got involved with each and what she does as a volunteer.
Julia:My name is Julia Dalton and I volunteer in the Help at Home
Julia:scheme, doing gardening with families.
Julia:I was looking for a part time gardening job once I'd retired and I came
Julia:across this ad for The nook for a gardener here and took it from there.
Julia:I've thought that would be a good opportunity to give back and I
Julia:like the idea of helping a family.
Julia:That was my, sort of my second career really, I was a gardener
Julia:and then I recently retired.
Julia:I wanted to carry on working outside.
Julia:There was a group of us, I think it was probably, there were about
Julia:six of us, I think, who signed up.
Julia:Monthly training courses, support, talking about all the ups and
Julia:downs, what we could expect.
Julia:Yeah, it was very good, very good.
Julia:Sarah (host): For Anne, it is really important that
Julia:each provide robust training.
Julia:This means that volunteers like Julia can get started with confidence.
Anne:You know, we're, we're quite aware it's a, um, it's quite a specific role.
Anne:I feel we do offer training.
Anne:Quite a lot of preparation and support for our volunteers before
Anne:they even think about starting.
Anne:They're invited to come in here to the hospice to have a chat or if the
Anne:location isn't convenient for them, I can speak to them via teams or zoom because
Anne:obviously we do cover the whole county.
Anne:So it's quite, you know, wide reaching.
Anne:They come into the hospice for a chat so they can learn a bit
Anne:more about each and the role.
Anne:We can learn a bit more about them and, you know, it's a mutual thing.
Anne:Do we think it would be a good fit and do they think it's something that
Anne:they might enjoy and find worthwhile?
Anne:If we're both happy at that point, then we invite them to
Anne:come in for sort of two days of induction and we really go through.
Anne:Lots of topics that are crucial, like sort of some health and safety
Anne:issues which have to be covered.
Anne:I know everyone when you mention health and safety, but you know, we have a
Anne:duty of care to the volunteers as well.
Anne:So yeah, we go through quite a lot within that two days and that's really just to
Anne:make sure That they feel fully prepared when they're going into a family's
Anne:home so that they feel comfortable.
Anne:It may be that some of the families have a lot of equipment in their home,
Anne:so some might have alarmed support.
Anne:Like feeding and that sort of thing.
Anne:So it's just really so the volunteer is absolutely prepared when they go into
Anne:the home to do what they're there to do.
Anne:And we always say to both volunteers and families, in my experience,
Anne:both parties feel a little bit nervous before they meet.
Anne:And I think that's completely normal because from the family's point
Anne:of view, they're coming to have volunteer come into their home.
Anne:And likewise, from the volunteer's point of view, it's normal to
Anne:feel, oh, you know, are we going to get along, that sort of thing.
Anne:So that's completely normal, but we normally find any awkwardness that
Anne:there may be within two or three visits, it's gone and it works well.
Anne:Sarah (host): After her training, Julia was matched with a family to offer
Anne:support by sharing her gardening skills.
Anne:We spoke to a member of that family on the phone about their involvement with
Anne:each and the help that Julia gives.
Louise:My name's Louise, and I found each through, um, the oncology department
Louise:at the Norwich and Norfolk Hospital, where my son is in treatment, um,
Louise:currently, um, and has been for about three and a half years for leukaemia, ALL.
Louise:I think actually a friend of the store, um, had a child who had a similar
Louise:sort of thing, and they'd found a great help from the volunteer scheme.
Louise:So, yeah, I just decided to look it up and went from there, really.
Louise:Thanks Yeah, we had initially a lady come around and chat to us
Louise:about things that could, we could potentially have, um, support with.
Louise:So I think some of the things were like internal painting and the garden.
Louise:So we were matched with Julia, who was a retired gardener.
Louise:Um, she actually did that as her profession and, um, she was now
Louise:volunteering for each at the Nook.
Louise:And, um, yes, so she's been coming and helping maintain.
Louise:My garden really.
Louise:It's quite a mature garden.
Louise:It gets a bit wild and yeah it's just been nice to have that kind
Louise:of something taken off my mind.
Louise:So we just discussed all the areas that potentially would be really
Louise:helpful, um, to have support with.
Louise:Then, uh, I think from there, I was then allocated, they kind of looked at what
Louise:volunteers you had available, my needs, and then they matched us with Julia for
Louise:the garden, then before, I think we had an initial meeting before she started
Louise:to, Get to know each other and say hello.
Louise:Yeah, what we kind of potentially needed doing.
Louise:And then Julia started.
Louise:Came on a weekly basis.
Louise:And started the work.
Louise:So it was really, really straightforward.
Louise:Really easy.
Louise:Yeah, worked really well.
Louise:Sarah (host): As Anne described, it might not always feel easy to have an
Louise:unfamiliar person in your home or garden.
Louise:Especially when you're experiencing such challenging health issues.
Louise:Yeah,
Louise:I suppose you just wonder who it's going to be and, um, obviously
Louise:things like, you know, are they going to be left alone in your house or, um,
Louise:and those kind of the safety side of things, I suppose, may have been something
Louise:that I, I thought about initially.
Louise:But you do kind of build up a relationship with the, with the
Louise:volunteer, as you see them on a regular basis, and actually, it's really nice.
Louise:So support in other ways as well, and just having a chat with them, and getting to
Louise:know them, and yeah, it's really nice to have that additional person, um, around.
Louise:So, um, so yeah, they would probably be my main, um, Um, concerns are just
Louise:that they were sort of, um, whether it's not DBS checked, but you know, I mean,
Louise:like they, they've been checked out and they're, they're the right person for the
Louise:job and also that they have, they are able to carry out the job to a decent level.
Louise:And the level of skill would have been another thing I probably
Louise:would have, um, asked about.
Louise:I mean, with Julia, that she's, that has been her job for a lot of her life, so
Louise:that was, um, definitely, and also the meeting, the pre meeting to starting
Louise:the work, and, um, yeah, and the fact that I think she was very, very, um,
Louise:You know, wanted a lot of feed, not feedback, but wanted to ask me what I
Louise:wanted done, didn't just go and sort of start chopping things down or, um,
Louise:without, without consulting me first.
Louise:So it was very much a partnership, a collaboration, I suppose, um, and
Louise:not just, you know, doing whatever she felt like she wanted to do.
Louise:Sarah (host): Now that Julia is established as a volunteer with Louise,
Louise:we asked Julia to describe what she does each week during a volunteering session.
Julia:I usually do between two and four hours a week.
Julia:I would just go to the garden.
Julia:Sometimes I would see the family.
Julia:Other times I just Get on with little weeding jobs here and there,
Julia:and it's mainly maintaining the space for the family, really.
Julia:We usually talk about what they would like, and usually they're
Julia:just happy for you to do anything.
Julia:I always thought, well, I'll do the weeding, because then they're
Julia:looking out the window, and they're not looking at things that they can't
Julia:do, so it's mainly that, really.
Julia:For the families, I think you're taking You're taking that pressure off.
Julia:It's a, particularly in the garden, that's probably a job that goes
Julia:to the bottom of the list and oh, I'll always get round to it.
Julia:And their lives are so busy and stressful.
Julia:So I think it does take the pressure off them.
Julia:And for me, I just like being outside.
Julia:I really enjoy that.
Julia:So mostly it is, I would say, speaking to other people that don't.
Julia:It's maintaining, weeding, tidying, that sort of thing, really.
Julia:And maybe a bit of pruning.
Julia:But nobody expects you to be Monty Don, so that's quite good.
Julia:Sarah (host): Although Julia is not expected to be Monty Don, Louise
Julia:told us about the support that Julia does offer in the garden.
Louise:She's focused on different areas really throughout the time
Louise:she's been here, which I think has been an excellent thing.
Louise:Six months or so now.
Louise:So she's taken on different areas.
Louise:She always asks me if there's anything specific that I want doing.
Louise:But to be honest, I've been fairly flexible and just sort of let her crack
Louise:on with what she feels needs doing.
Louise:She knows best really as, as um, she's done that for her job.
Louise:So yeah, she's kind of focused on, I've got an area now that's cornered
Louise:off because I've Got an Airbnb kind of space down the end of the garden,
Louise:so she focused on that, that area, and then she's cleared a lot of,
Louise:sort of, near patio and seating area.
Louise:She's cleared a lot of the borders there.
Louise:Yeah, just generally tidy everything up, just general day to day sort
Louise:of maintenance things that I've struggled to keep on top of when
Louise:you're busy caring for your child.
Louise:We had a few chats and, uh, she's a really nice lady, we got on very well.
Louise:She did dig me a grave for one of my cats.
Louise:which I still haven't got my cat out of the freezer from the vet.
Louise:So, so yeah, that's been there a few months now and I do apologize
Louise:to her if she's listening to this.
Louise:She did do that.
Louise:It's a back breaking work, bless her.
Louise:And um, yes, we still haven't put the cat to rest.
Louise:So I must get that done.
Louise:But yeah, that was a big help because that was, that was something that
Louise:I was dreading and putting off.
Louise:So Julia got the job done, which I'm very thankful for.
Louise:Sarah (host): Louise and Anne spoke about the difference that volunteers like Julia
Louise:make for the families that they support.
Louise:Actually, a really positive outcome from Julia coming around is
Louise:actually I was talking to my auntie about the whole volunteering system.
Louise:She's actually been coming around with me to help me paint.
Louise:So we've painted together, we've painted a room at a time and we've
Louise:almost painted the whole house.
Louise:And she actually wants to look at volunteering for each and
Louise:doing something for other people.
Louise:And now she's actually had a chat with Julia when she was here.
Louise:And wants to know more about doing that.
Louise:So actually the ripple effect of having a volunteer here is actually it's It
Louise:spurred me on, and with the help of my auntie, which I wouldn't have been
Louise:able to do without, um, to get the inside of the house a bit more in order.
Louise:And then, yeah, moving forward to add another volunteer to the mix.
Louise:So yeah, it's had a really positive outcome for our family, really.
Anne:I mean, I know what a difference it makes because of
Anne:feedback, um, I've had from families.
Anne:When, if it's all working well, volunteers stay with families
Anne:for a maximum of one year.
Anne:And then that particular arrangement will come to an end and if the volunteer
Anne:wants to continue, they can then support another family and if the family would
Anne:like another volunteer, if we have one, we can try and arrange that,
Anne:but it comes to an end after a year.
Anne:And I would speak to both family and.
Anne:Volunteer after a year, see how it's gone, get any feedback, anything
Anne:we can do to improve the service.
Anne:So I know through the feedback that I've received at some of those end
Anne:of agreements, how valued it is and what a difference it makes.
Anne:We recently had a.
Anne:sunken set of paving slabs in the approach to someone's front door and
Anne:their child had very limited sight.
Anne:And so they were constantly concerned about the child tripping because the
Anne:sinkage was sort of quite significant.
Anne:So, you know, it was a constant worry for them.
Anne:One of our amazing volunteers who comes from a construction
Anne:background, Thankfully, went out, just did the most fantastic job.
Anne:He was such a perfectionist, you know, lifted the whole line of slabs,
Anne:relayed the sand and cement mix, was there with his spirit level, making
Anne:sure it was absolutely perfect.
Anne:And in fact, he was such a perfectionist that as he went along lifting one line
Anne:of slabs, it impacted slightly on the The next line behind it, and he was
Anne:absolutely determined that that was going to be perfect for the volunteer.
Anne:That was sort of three hours out of an afternoon, which he
Anne:actually thoroughly enjoyed.
Anne:But for that family, it meant it was a daily worry for them.
Anne:It meant an enormous amount.
Anne:So just a one off like that is it's very, very worthwhile.
Anne:It's always talked about, you know, what do volunteers get back from volunteering?
Anne:There's so many volunteering roles out there and, and it's
Anne:often talked about that they get their own well being improves.
Anne:They feel like, I know it can sound like a bit of a cliche, but this,
Anne:this sort of saying of they feel like they're giving something back.
Anne:But it's so, it's so true.
Anne:It is very rewarding.
Anne:And I think with this role, you really get to see that direct impact
Anne:of the difference you're making.
Anne:You've been to a family's home and you can literally see
Anne:what a difference you've made.
Anne:So yeah, it's great.
Anne:I mean, it isn't a service that has been going for a massive amount of time.
Anne:It started in 2016, I think.
Anne:But I know it's a, there are similar schemes running through other hospices
Anne:throughout the country and I know there's other, other charities that
Anne:provide sort of similar schemes.
Anne:I think the impact would be huge.
Anne:Even if the family only get the support of that volunteer for one year.
Anne:It's not only the difference that they see in their home or in their garden.
Anne:Some of the feedback I get is, Oh, well, the volunteer comes and she
Anne:does a couple of hours of gardening, and then we have a cup of tea and
Anne:a quick chat before she goes home.
Anne:And, you know, it can be quite isolating, um, for families.
Anne:Having that chat, Can mean a lot.
Anne:It can almost mean as much as having a garden nice and it's the
Anne:reliability of the volunteer going.
Anne:They know they don't have to explain anything to the volunteer.
Anne:The volunteer just turns up, does a great job, leaves.
Anne:And yeah, I think the impact if we didn't have the scheme.
Anne:I think it would be really missed.
Anne:I know from the amount of families that say they'd be
Anne:interested in having a volunteer.
Anne:Unfortunately, the number of families interested in the service outweighs
Anne:the number of volunteers I have.
Anne:So, you know, I know from the interest in it, how needed it is.
Anne:We loved hearing
Anne:Sarah (host): about the impact that volunteers with the Each Help at Home
Anne:scheme make, and the variety of activities that volunteers can get involved with.
Anne:We wrapped up our conversations with Julia, Anne and Louise by asking them to
Anne:share their advice for someone who might be thinking about volunteering with Each.
Julia:Just to do it, really.
Julia:Not that it makes you really But it does make you feel good.
Julia:You just have to commit to a little time each week.
Julia:It's not a big chunk of your life.
Julia:And it's great to give back, really, I think.
Julia:Just come and join.
Julia:Join the fun.
Julia:There's great support from the volunteer coordinator and the training.
Julia:And when we get together as volunteers, volunteers and that's a good peer support.
Anne:Each is an amazing organization to support.
Anne:There is a wealth of volunteering roles available at each.
Anne:We're across three counties.
Anne:I'd love to have more volunteers for help at home, but if you don't
Anne:feel that's for you, we have retail volunteers, wellbeing, driving.
Anne:Obviously fundraising and events, there is a role here for you at each,
Anne:whatever you would like to do, I feel sure of that, but yeah, if anyone
Anne:thinks help at home might be for them, then I'd love them to get in touch.
Louise:I'd just say, I would just bite the bullet and give it a go, I think.
Louise:Yeah, I think it's, I would imagine it's rewarding on both ends.
Louise:It's something that I think I would definitely look into in the future,
Louise:you know, in a few years time when everything's settled down with us and
Louise:things are a bit more back to normality.
Louise:Like I say, my auntie is now wanting to volunteer and I think it's just
Louise:helping others is really rewarding and I think you build up a bit of
Louise:a relationship with the volunteer and it's, it's support on both ends.
Louise:different levels as well as the physical and, you know, the gardening.
Louise:There's also that just having someone there that sometimes
Louise:you can have a chat to.
Louise:It's the emotional support as well.
Louise:So, so yeah, I think give it a go.
Louise:I don't think you will look back.
Louise:Sarah (host): Thank you for listening to today's episode of Volunteering Discovery.
Louise:A big thank you to Anne, Julia and Louise for sharing their experiences.
Louise:If you are interested in discovering more about East Anglian Children
Louise:Hospice or becoming a volunteer there, please check out their website on www.
Louise:each.
Louise:org.
Louise:uk Please don't forget to subscribe, rate and review this podcast.
Louise:It all helps people find us and spread the word about volunteering.
Louise:This podcast was produced for the Norfolk Waverley Integrated Care
Louise:System by Hospital Radio Norwich.
Louise:Hosted by Sarah Briggs.
Louise:Producer was Jules Auderson.
Louise:Original music composed and performed by Philip Aldred.
Louise:Interviews by Sarah Briggs and Jules Alderson.