Heartbeat: Community nurses bring Christmas cheer to patients

December 23, 2019

Christmas is a time for joy and happiness and thanks to donations from Barclays Bank, community nurses from our Trust will be bringing a little Christmas cheer to some of our most vulnerable patients on Christmas Day.

To find out more about the plans, Heartbeat caught up with Community Matron, Denise Owen, she said, “For most of us at Christmas we’ll be surrounded by our families with piles of presents to unwrap and a feast to eat. As nurses working out in the community, we know that this often isn’t the case for many of our patients. Often we go out to patients and are the only people that patient will see that day and sadly, this is the same over Christmas.

“This year in the iCares directorate we decided to hold a charity raffle to use the funds raised to give patients seen by community staff on Christmas day a gift.

We contacted Barclays Bank and told them about what we would like to do, and they jumped on board donating raffle prizes and helping us fill almost 100 Christmas gift bags.

“The gift bags have a mix of items, from chocolates and biscuits to gift sets for men and women, there’s something in each for every one of our patients.”

Beaming with pride, Denise explained how the community has joined in with their efforts, “When we’ve been out buying all of the gifts, people have been stopping us to find out what we’re doing and making their own on the spot donations. People often forget that behind the door of every little bungalow will likely be one of our patients, some have family and friends nearby but many don’t. Hopefully, our little gesture brings a smile to their faces when we see them.”

If you’d like to join in with donating to a good cause, contact Your Trust Charity who can help you find a worthy cause, on ext. 4847.