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Covid 19 - Recovery begins at Havens Hospices As Covid restrictions ease, we wanted to show you how we’re planning to recover and grow from the effects of the pandemic, thanks to your support.

Care continued throughout the pandemic, even if it had to be adapted into virtual support or moved into people’s homes.

At Fair Havens, the number of patients cared for has increased 80% compared to the previous year (Mar 20-Apr 21).

Between Easter and June, we were still able to provide 2,464 hours of respite for children and young people, within family homes and at Little Havens, meaning their families could have a break, catch up on sleep or run errands.

Many of the face to face supportive activities such as complementary therapy, counselling and small group gatherings resumed again in the summer . At Fair Havens Hub, we started clinics for people with breathlessness, anxiety or MND who are in the early stages of their diagnosis.

More care for more people

Whilst the demand for our care increased, we experienced a downturn in our fundraising income like many other charities. Ultimately, our ambition is still to provide more care to more people, especially those who may not ordinarily access support when they’re very ill.

The lockdown and social distancing restrictions meant we had to cancel or postpone all our public fundraising events and close our charity shops. This means income is still lower than expected. We’ll need to use the reserves that we have built up to help – but these will not last forever.

With your support, we can continue to secure the future of hospice care for children, young people, adults and their families

New Therapy for Infants at Little Havens

A common activity for new parents to bond with their child is being adapted at Little Havens to suit babies with complex needs. Baby massage helps enhance bonding and body awareness for the child and the adults. However Sophie, a nurse at Little Havens and qualified Baby Massage Instructor, has found baby massage to be particularly beneficial for children with complex conditions.

“Many babies and toddlers who have complex needs have already had many invasive procedures, such as lots of heel prick blood tests. Therefore we often find that body part being touched alerts a sense of danger to them, so through infant massage we try to build that confidence back.”

Pushed to the Limits for Children’s Hospice Week

Children’s Hospice Week is the only week in the year dedicated to raising awareness and funds for children’s palliative care services across the UK, but for local charities like Little Havens, the hard work continues all year round.

Our #Challenge46 – named because it costs £46,000 each week to provide the care of Little Havens – was taken on by our brilliant supporters running, walking, riding and arranging a football tournament for the campaign.

All of the children and families who rely on Little Havens appreciate these efforts, without which they would have nowhere to turn.

Elijah's story

Natasha is mum to Elijah, two, who has a rare virus infection which causes other complex conditions. They joined in #Challenge46 with Elijah doing 46 repetitions of his physio exercises.

“Everything at Little Havens is just tailor made for kids like Elijah - the sensory room, hoists, bath, gardens. It's nice to go somewhere where you don't have to worry about fitting in. It's so important that parents of life-limited children - and the wider community - understand what hospices do and how much they benefit these children.”
“I can see how children’s hospices have been pushed to their limits with fundraising, with all these different activities like the London Marathon forced to cancel. Yet hospices are still expected to provide same level of care without the same level of funds coming in. They’re literally pushed to their limits.”

Lucy’s Story

Lucy Watts MBE is a disability and palliative care campaigner and activist. She has a life-limiting illness with extremely complex medical needs. In spring she visited Fair Havens following a sudden deterioration in her health. She was admitted to the In Patient Unit for symptom control and investigative tests.

“Wheeling into the beautiful environment of the new Fair Havens Hospice, an immediate sense of calm came over me. The Fair Havens palliative care consultants set to work organising the tests they wanted to run and reviewed all my needs and medication.”
“We now have an extra layer of support with Fair Havens being on board, and I can rest assured that I will achieve my goals for my life and for my end of life – be that at home, or in the hospice.”

Daisy's story

Daisy has been receiving support from Havens Hospices for eight years. The 18 year old has two rare conditions that cause many other complications and needs to receive her nutrition and medication into her veins, through a system called TPN (total parenteral nutrition).

When Daisy is connected to these machines for up to 24 hours a day, mum Tracy must be present as the process is completely unique to Daisy and nurses need an intensive level of experience and specific training on Daisy’s system to be able to do this. This means that, at present, Daisy isn’t benefiting from the overnight respite that the charity could offer. Staff are currently being trained to undertake this complex clinical procedure, but Little Havens needs more qualified nurses to ensure there is always someone on shift with these skills.

Daisy had respite in the home once a month from Havens Hospices and Tracy stayed in the house in case she’s needed for the medical procedures. During Covid, this care shifted online because Daisy has been shielding.

Daisy says, “We are so grateful for the care that Havens Hospices can provide and during Covid we’ve actually benefited from their adaptations in services with more online therapies and activities. We’ve had a lot of contact from the team during lockdown.
“I have a great relationship with my Havens Hospices carer Amanda. We spend our time together chatting, doing art and playing games. She can also signpost me and Mum if we are struggling with something.”

Fundraising Heroes

Our hospice care is free thanks to the support from the local community and people like you. Here are just some of the 'Havens Heroes' who have helped us continue 'Making every day count.'

Thundersley Rovers Sports Club donate £20,000 to Havens Hospices

The club donated £10,000 to both hospices, Little Havens and Fair Havens, from their Legacy Fund - the fund was initially earmarked for the Club to purchase land for a permanent home. However since the club was unable to find any suitable land to purchase in the area the committee decided to donate the funds to local charities instead.

Hats and High Heels for Ascot Fundraiser

Sarah Allison from Grays and her friends didn’t let the rain stop their Ascot celebrations. On 17th June Sarah held her own Ascot event to raise money for Little Havens in memory of her daughter Febe, raising more than £1,400.

Community Collections for Little Havens and The J’s during Children’s Hospice Week

Our incredible ambassadors and volunteers were out in the community during Children’s Hospice Week in June, raising awareness of the care we provide to children and young adults.

Supporters raise close to £50k by running virtual Southend Half Marathon

Thank you to the hundreds of runners that covered more than 6,500 miles over weekend of 12th and 13th June raising thousands towards our care. Due to the pandemic the charity asked supporters to run 13.1 miles anywhere of their choice.

Reno’s Hair Chop Fundraiser raises over £2K

We would like to say a huge thank you to Reno who after growing his hair for three years has cut it off to fundraise for Little Havens. The hospice cared for his little brother five years ago and Reno raised an incredible £2,300 thanks to sponsorship from family and friends.

Pier to Pier cycle challenge raises over £3K

Jacob, Brad and Barry have cycled across the country in less than 24 hours, raising over £3,000 for Little Havens. The three friends used their pedal power to cycle 310 miles from Aberystwyth Pier in Wales to Southend Pier in 22 hours and 34 minutes.

DP World Generously donate shopping vouchers

We’d like to say a huge thank you to the D Shift Team at DP World London Gateway for donating £3,600 of Love to Shop Vouchers to Little Havens. Members of the team were each given a £100 voucher as a Christmas present and decided to donate these to the hospice.

Local Will Writer Skydives for Havens Hospices raising £1.5K

Ian Nicholson, a local Will Writer and Estate Planner from Mountnessing supported Havens Hospices by skydiving out of a plane at 13,000 feet. He also agreed to offer his Will writing services for free to someone in the hope that it raises awareness on the importance of planning a Will, something that many people hold off for various reasons.

Pedal power raises over £5K

A huge thank you to everyone who took part in our first virtual cycling event ‘Pedal’ over the early May Bank Holiday weekend. Together as a team supporters cycled an incredible 1,265 miles the equivalent to cycling four laps of the Essex border. A huge thank you to our sponsors Edmund Carr for making this possible.

Nursing at Havens Hospices

Providing palliative nursing support at Havens Hospices is a privilege for our Care Teams. But there’s a lot more to this type of care than you might expect. Here, two nurses from different hospice services talk about what makes their profession so special.

Denise Douglas – Fair Havens Hospice at Home

"Nursing in the community is very intimate and social – you are going into people’s homes to provide care so it has been challenging throughout Covid.
"I’m really proud of us all, still providing the same level and quality of care. We’ve been there for the families in their greatest and darkest need, including after death care and support. Receiving a thank you from a family makes it all worthwhile."

Lauran Boulton – Little Havens Nurse

“Nursing at Little Havens is very different to anywhere else you'd nurse. There's a lot of focus on holistic care, looking after the whole family and every aspect of their life. The respite is more centred on fun and how we can add to those experiences.
"Because of the donations made by our kind supporters, we are making the worst experience of their lives as smooth and as pain free as possible and giving people as many choices as we can.

Light Up A Life

We understand that Christmas can be a difficult time for those who have experienced a bereavement. But, like last year, 2021 will take on a different poignancy as we reflect on those families whose loved ones have died during the pandemic and were unable to be with them, to hold their hand and say goodbye.

Last year, just over 900 people came together in grief, in remembrance and in celebration of the people they love miss and hold in their hearts.

Will you help us Light up a Life this year?

When you make your donation in memory of your loved one, we will:

  • Dedicate a light on our hospice Christmas trees
  • Send you a personalised card
  • Place your loved one's name into a special feature within the Echo newspaper on Friday 10th December*
  • Include your loved one's names in our Book of Remembrance*

*If received by the deadline of Monday 22nd November

To find out more information on Light up a Life, our services and online event, visit havenshospices.org.uk/lual or call 01702 220 310.

FREDIE For Everyone At Havens Hospices

Havens Hospices is committed to equality, diversity and inclusion, but we want our actions to go beyond words on a page or a social media post. We’re working with the National Centre for Diversity, embedding the principles of FREDIE in every aspect of our charity, from how we provide our care to the recruitment of people that make this happen.

FREDIE means Fairness, Respect, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion and Engagement. Our FREDIE Champions are constantly reviewing and implementing the actions presented to us from the NCFD, and challenging any further barriers to truly living these values.

So far we’ve:

  • Created a group of staff from across Havens Hospices with responsibility for steering the organisation’s commitment to FREDIE
  • Been listed within the 2021 National Centre for Diversity’s index of the Top 100 Most Inclusive Workplaces
  • Created a calendar, celebrating festivals and campaigns within our hospices that highlight protected characteristics
  • Anonymised screening of new applicants by removing personal details from CV’s and application forms, eliminating conscious and unconscious bias

We’d love to hear from our supporters on your experiences and how you feel our charity can work towards being more inclusive.

Lasting Legacy from Rosina and Geoff

A family who made a donation to Little Havens in memory of their loving parents and grandparents, know first-hand how much the generous gift will mean to those who use the hospice.

Rosina and her husband Geoff had a long-standing relationship with Havens Hospices and knew the original founder of Fair Havens. However, they never realised the true personal significance Little Havens would have until their grandson, Archie, started using the hospice.

“The gifts to both Eastwood Baptist Church and Little Havens reflect the significant part each played in their lives and our family story”, said Graham her son. “We hope the donation of £28,000 in our parents' memory will help Little Havens with all the wonderful work they do.”

To find out more about leaving a gift in your will, visit havenshospices.org.uk/legacy

Photography copyright of Havens Hospices, Ruth Knight, Anna Lukala, Lucy Watts and Our Frontline.

Registered Charity Number 1022119