Wear a ribbon to show your solidarity with those who are grieving

The Hospice Palliative Care Association (HPCA) is calling on the Ladysmith community and our citizens, together with communities and citizens of South Africa at large, to wear a ribbon on their right wrist on Saturday, October 8, to indicate that they are experiencing grief, whether personally or in solidarity with another.

Ribbons can be any colour or size, demonstrating the very individual nature of grief. Ribbons are available at Hospice House in Murchison Street.

Dr Ewa Skowronska, CEO of the HPCA, explains, “The last few years have been grief filled. For everyone. Globally, there are billions of ‘the walking wounded’. And we are all grieving. There are those who are facing life-threatening diagnoses and there are those who are grieving both literal and emotional deaths.”

For this reason, the global theme for World Hospice Palliative Care Day, an annual awareness that falls on Saturday, October 8, this year, is ‘Healing Hearts and Community.’ The aim is to spread hope by demonstrating that we are not alone in our grief and that we can help each other to heal.

The campaign has been endorsed by Janet Jobson, the CEO of the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, who observes that, “The theme for this year’s World Hospice Palliative Care Day complements our own focus on growing societies’ ‘courage to heal’. The Arch, as he so loved being known, was a founding patron of HPCA almost 40 years ago now. He was a fierce advocate for access to palliative care and dignified dying as a human right. For these reasons, the Tutu Legacy Foundation supports the call to people in South Africa to wear a ribbon on their right wrist on Saturday, October 8 – to honour our grief; individual and collective.”

We, at Ladysmith Hospice, also grieve the loss of one of our founder members, Brian Kaighin. Brian lost the battle against cancer on August 27, 2022. Brian and his wife Beryl played an enormous part, together with many others during 1996 and 1997, in the establishment of Ladysmith Hospice. By God’s mercy, they passed on the baton, and dedicated staff and board members of Ladysmith Hospice have been carrying out the mission and vision of Hospice around the world for over 25 years in Ladysmith.

Through quality palliative care, Ladysmith Hospice has assisted many in our community over the past 25 years to deal with serious illnesses. Many patients and their families have been assisted to have quality of life despite the stress of the illness. The bereavement support offered by Ladysmith Hospice after the loss of loved ones, contributes to healed hearts in our community.

Ladysmith Hospice has trained caregivers who provide Palliative Home-Based Care in 15 communities in the Uthukela District. Private Home-Based Care is also rendered to patients in the comfort of their own homes. We also hire out medical equipment – eg wheelchairs, commodes and walkers – and sell incontinence products.

Visit us at Hospice House, Murchison Street, or contact us on 0366312697

The news provided to you in this link comes to you from the editorial staff of the Ladysmith Gazette, a sold newspaper distributed in the Ladysmith area.

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