Brewing a cup of thanks for BCH team

SHARING a cuppa has taken on new meaning for the Palliative Care and Community Nursing team at Bellarine Community Health (BCH).

The team received a coffee machine as a donation in recognition of the team’s work over several years to support a palliative care client.

John Issell’s wife Sandra passed away several months ago, and the Drysdale resident wanted the BCH Palliative Care and Community Nursing team to know how much their support meant to him and his family.

“I really appreciated the help that I got to support Sandra at home which I couldn’t have done by myself,” Mr Issell said.

“I wanted to say thank you, so I asked the team if they had a coffee machine. They said, ‘we have a kettle’ and I thought ‘well, that’s something I can do to help them; a coffee machine is better than a kettle’.”

The BCH Palliative and Community Nurses work tirelessly to support members of the community in need in their place of comfort.

This has been particularly evident during COVID-19. While members of the public were being urged to remain home and practice social distancing, BCH nurses continued to work on the frontline, visiting clients in their home and providing them the necessary care they needed.

Knowing help was available was a huge support for John’s daughter Prue Koolen.

“Not everyone has a wonderful carer. Dad was able to be there for Mum, but the support that BCH was able to give us was invaluable,” Ms Koolen said.

“My sister and I were so grateful to have that support available and to be able to call out for help and speak to someone when we needed to.”

Mr Issell and Ms Koolen dropped in to share a cuppa and say a personal thank you to the BCH team last week.

To donate to BCH’s palliative care and nursing team, head to bch.org.au/donate.