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Don & Lynne |
Pick any volunteer job in the hospice, any at all, and chances are good Lynne has done it one time or another. If she hasn't, you can be pretty sure that Don has!
It is Don who will greet you should you come by the Hospice on a Thursday morning. Lynne is usually to be found in Day Care these days (if a human-size sunflower passes you in the hall - it's probably Lynne!).
They have both been involved with the hospice for a number of years. Lynne has been a member of the Nantwich Support Group since 1989 and began volunteering at the hospice in 1996. Over the years she has worked in In-Care, as a lottery collector and is a Day Care driver (as Don has been). Don also did the Bereavement Training Course Stages I & 2, which are offered by the Family Support Unit, and for many years was a member of the Family Support Team, helping at the monthly Bereavement Support Meetings.
Don first became acquainted with the Hospice when his wife Stella became a patient here.
"When you spend a lot of time here you get to know people."
Stella passed away here in 1995 and, after the mandatory 12-month waiting period, Don began here as a volunteer working on Reception, "because you want to put back in."
Don and Lynne were working at the hospice on the same days, and their paths were bound to cross. Their first date happened in 1998 and seven months later (to the day, as Lynne says) came the wedding!
They both agree that St Luke's is a wonderful place to volunteer.
"It's so easy to give here because you get it back ten-fold," says Lynne.
Don agrees. "And it's not just the patients. I'd only worked here a year, one morning a week, when I had a heart attack. I was amazed at how many staff - from all over the hospice - came to visit me in hospital, or called to see how I was doing."
"It's one big family here. I love the genuineness of the people you find here." Lynne continues. "The staff all WANT to be here. It's also a feeling of belonging somewhere that is making a difference - and you feel like you can make a little bit of a difference. And for the patients to allow you share this time with them - it's a privilege."
Don adds, "The giving and receiving just goes on."
Lynne concludes, "The caring never stops here - in any direction!"
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