Hospice is there when Nelson families need it most
Every month, Nelson Tasman Hospice and Nelson Hospital cares for around 210 local patients and their families, at home, in care facilities and in their unit in Stoke. It costs nothing to use. But it costs a lot to run.
Hospice is not just for dying. It's for symptom management. It's for respite.
At just 47, Anna Burns isn't ready to stop living. A single mum and musician currently recording an EP with her band, she once believed hospice was only for the final days. What she found instead was pain relief, respite, and the space to keep making music, keep sitting in the sun, and keep being mum.
Death can be very beautiful. It can be gentle, when the right people are there.
After nearly 18 years at Nelson Tasman Hospice, Dr Juliet Fleming is stepping away, leaving behind a legacy of compassion and clinical excellence. She helped build the proactive, holistic model of care the hospice runs today, and says the biggest myth about hospice is that there's only one way out, in a box. Most patients, she says, are cared for at home. Hospice is about living as well as possible.
Stories shared with the kind permission of the families and Nelson Tasman Hospice.
