A big thank you to all those people who donated money to us during the Hospice Street Appeal on February 11. 

The Street Appeal is the main annual public fundraising event for all 33 hospices across the country, and it was touch and go whether we would continue with it locally as the more contagious Covid variant Omicron began to spread south.

We decided to go ahead and that’s why you would have seen people with hospice vests seated outside your local supermarket and other shops on the Friday. 

We must also give a big thank you to those volunteers who manned the tables with their collection buckets. This year we also had eft-pos machines available making it easier for people with no coins in their pockets to donate. No excuses!

As we operate seven hospice retail shops around the province including one in Te Anau, we empathise with business owners the dilemmas the Covid pandemic presents, such as trying to isolate team members into work bubbles to limit any potential spread.

Now that Omicron is here, we must be even more careful how we handle customers in our shops and visitors to our In-Patient Unit in Invercargill. This includes community nurses visiting patients in their homes, with virtual consultations over the internet becoming more common.

For our shops we are recommending entry for vaccinated and masked customers only. However, we have left this decision to each shop manager as to how best they can serve their communities. Family members are welcome to visit patients in the IPU with appropriate hand hygiene, masking and social distancing restrictions.

On a brighter note, the Rotary Hospice Charity Cycle Challenge is rolling around again, to be held this year on Saturday, March 19. This fundraising event spearheaded by Rotary clubs throughout Southland involves a 160km ride from Te Anau to Invercargill.

It’s not a race but more a challenge for both competitive and casual cyclists alike to raise money while riding for a good cause.

You can enter by signing up at our website hospicesouthland.org.nz. If your legs aren’t up to it, you can sponsor someone who is. 

Flora Gilkison

CEO, Hospice Southland