If there’s one piece of equipment that makes the biggest difference in the care of terminally ill patients its the right bed, according to registered nurse Jill Long.
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“Without these beds we can’t nurse people in their own homes,” she said.
In the past 12 months Port Stephens Palliative Care has spent more than $30,000 on beds and associated equipment, the latest bed purchased out of a $5800 donation from Salamander Bay Recycling Centre.
Barbara Arathoon and Rosemary Toscano helped form Port Stephens Palliative Care over 30 years ago.
“We did a lot of fundraising in the early years but we’re fortunate that we get a lot of support these days,” Mrs Toscano said.
“We haven’t had to sell raffle tickets in a long time.”
The committee is instead able to rely on bequeaths and regular donations from service clubs like Rotary.
The $5800 donation from Salamander Bay Recycling takes the total of its donations, as a not-for-profit organisation, to $46,000 this year.
“These ladies are doing wonderful work and its only fair that we do our best to help them,” the centre’s general manager Gerard McClafferty said.
“This bed is obviously helping local people and making the end-of-life experience for these people as comfortable as possible.”
The beds function just like what’s available in hospital so as to position the patient as required for ongoing care.
Unlike regular hospital beds these are collapsible for transport.
Port Stephens Palliative Care provides the beds free to the patients and even delivers the bed to the homes.
Otherwise people can organise a bed through Hunter New England Health but Mrs Arathoon said there was some cost involved and a waiting list.
“A lot of people in Port Stephens have two-storey homes so these beds are perfect,” she said.
“Once these beds are in place, it’s a lot easier for the nurses to do their work too.”
Salamander Bay Recycling Centre is an independent not-for-profit organisation that operates under lease to Port Stephens Council. As part of its charter it donates to charitable causes throughout the year.
“We encourage other organisations that would like to improve their capacity to do good, to approach us,” Mr McClafferty said.
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