Caroline Kay is a Clinical Nurse Specialist at St. Rocco’s and has supported at the Light Up A Light Service at St. Elphin’s Church for a number of years. She helps people who have dedicated a light on the tree find the names of their loved ones in the Book of Honour.
Here she explains why Light Up A Life is special to her as a member of staff.
“The Book of Honour really is just that; it honours the person for who they were before the illness and everything that goes with it took over. Light up A Light gives us, as staff members, an opportunity outside of the intense care-giving to think about who that person really was who passed away and what they meant to others who loved them,” she explains.
“At the time that someone is ill, for them and their families we are nurses who are looking after them. It is a distinct kind of relationship. Meeting them at again at Light Up A Life allows us to acknowledge the family and see that relationship in a different way.”
Light Up A Life is a special link between the community and St. Rocco’s. We are very much part of the community, serving the local people and relying on the generosity of that community to continue our care.
The focus of Light Up A Life is definitely the two services, which are so special to everyone. Having lost someone close to me I understand how difficult birthdays, anniversaries and Christmas can be; you are so used to marking that occasion with a gift or a card and suddenly you can’t do that anymore. Being able to make a donation and receiving the commemorative card, as well as seeing the light on the tree, provides something physical that you can do and see. At the same time something good comes out of it in terms of helping others who need care.
I think the timing of the event is very helpful as well. Having this act of remembrance at the beginning of December gives people the opportunity to honour their loved one and then hopefully allows them to move forward and approach Christmas in a different light, which can be very helpful if there are young children in the family. There has been time set aside to devote to the person they have lost.
Having the two services, one at the hospice and one at St. Elphin’s Church makes a difference to people too. It gives them a choice about where and how they remember that special person.
Light Up A Life is an extension of the service and care that we provide. Great care is taken to get everyone’s name correctly in the book and it is then available throughout the year for people to see.
For us it is all about making people feel welcomed, being approachable and giving people enough time to talk if they need to do so. Indeed for some families it has become tradition that when a relative passes away, they add them to the number of lights that they dedicate on our tree. It is as meaningful as that to people and I feel really privileged to be a part of that.”
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