AN 84-YEAR-OLD patient of Wigan and Leigh Hospice who is isolated at home has told how much visits from nurses mean to her.
Winifred Sullivan, who lives in Newtown in Wigan, was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus last year.
Her son and daughter live too far away to visit during the coronavirus crisis and her husband, Roger, is in a care home.
Hospice in your Home
She is visited by nurses from the Hospice in your Home team for emotional support and personal care, such as help with washing.
Winifred said: “I feel I’ve got great support – if they didn’t come tomorrow it would break my heart. I want to be peaceful, happy and content and I am when I’ve got these girls coming to see me.
“My sister was looked after by a hospice on the Isle of Man. I wanted the kind of people who gave my sister the love she had at the end of her life and I get it when the hospice nurses come to see me.
“If they stopped coming you might as well say ‘goodnight Winifred’ – they are a ray of sunshine.”
Winifred was referred to hospice community services by her GP and since then the Hospice in your Home team has been visiting once a week since the start of April. She also receives visits from District Nurses.
A new lease of life
Winifred said: “Now these girls are coming I feel like I have a new lease of life. When I know they are coming I’ve something to look forward to – they know what they are talking about and they are very special people. I feel very privileged and humble having the hospice look after me.”
Former nurse Winifred worked as both a geriatric and general nurse at Whelley Hospital and Wigan Infirmary before she and her husband took on a fish and chip business. Winifred and Roger ran Sully’s Chippy in Lock Street, Pemberton, for 17 years before retirement.