When weeding makes a difference

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Sarah (host): Hello and welcome to Volunteering Discovery.

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This is a podcast which takes you behind the scenes of volunteering in health

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and social care in Norfolk and Waveney.

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Volunteers enhance the experience of people accessing health and social

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care in a huge variety of ways.

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In our hospitals, our communities, and even from the comfort of their own homes.

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In each podcast, we'll be hearing from those who give their

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time supporting others and the people who work alongside them.

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I'm your host, Sarah, a volunteer coordinator working in the NHS.

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There are nearly 9, 000 children with life limiting conditions

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in the east of England.

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The children and their families need specialist provision, and

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a local organisation called East Anglian Children's Hospice, or

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EACH, provide much needed advice and support to the families involved.

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In today's episode, we'll be talking to some of the team at EACH to find out

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about the role that volunteers play, offering support to local families.

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We start our conversation meeting Anne, who tells us about the hospice and the

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activities volunteers can get involved in.

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My name is Anne Rayner, and I am the volunteer coordinator for East

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Anglian Children's Hospices here at the Nook in, just outside Norwich in Norfolk.

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East Anglian Children's Hospices are a set up of three hospices, one here in

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Norfolk, one in Ipswich in Suffolk, and the other in Milton in Cambridgeshire,

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and they were, um, Set up first hospice was Milton, which was opened in 1989

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as a direct result, really, of the actions of a nurse who recognized that

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for children with life limiting or life threatening illnesses, maybe hospitals

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weren't the ideal place for them to.

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Fully access all the services that they needed, so that's where it

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started for each with the first hospice there in Milton and the

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other two followed quite quickly.

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The original one in Norfolk was in Quidenham and that opened in 1998

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and that was quickly followed by our hospice in Ipswich which was 1999.

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So EACH is a children's hospice.

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Predominantly, we are here to help children with life limiting

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or life threatening illnesses.

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But what I would say is that EACH has a very holistic approach.

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We are here to help the whole family, and that includes the extended family.

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Having a, um, child with additional needs, or a, an, an illness, the ripple

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effect goes out throughout the whole family, so each is here to support the

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whole family, in whatever way that is, be it through accessing counselling,

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various therapies, art therapy, music therapy, um, play, specialists.

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It's really to look after the whole family.

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I look after a scheme called Help at Home.

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It's a relatively small scheme within the service.

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What it aims to do is provide practical support for families in their homes.

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You know, life is busy for all of us, but when you have lots of additional

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things to deal with, sometimes lots of hospital appointments, all sorts of

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extra things on top of normal, family, busy, everyday life, it can be easy for

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things, like for example, like the garden, to just become overwhelming to sort of

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deal with on top of everything else.

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It's a scheme completely aimed at providing practical support in the home,

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and that can be as a regular support.

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So some of the volunteers we have will visit families weekly

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to help them just with cleaning, general household tasks, gardening.

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Dog walking, things like that.

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Or we also have some people who will be happy to help with what we call one off

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tasks and they can be something bigger, such as if the garden has really got

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out of hand, for example, you know, a few people could go in and sort of do

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a garden clearance or just in the rung up to spring to make sure the garden

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is neat and tidy, sort of ready for everything to start growing again.

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Or tasks like decorating, helping to move home, that sort of thing, so

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a few volunteers might get together and help with something like that.

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I would say that volunteers get a lot out of this role and it can

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be something that they like doing.

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So if they particularly like gardening, it's hopefully

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something that they enjoy as well.

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Sarah (host): One of the volunteers who enjoys gardening is Julia.

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We asked her how she got involved with each and what she does as a volunteer.

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My name is Julia Dalton and I volunteer in the Help at Home

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scheme, doing gardening with families.

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I was looking for a part time gardening job once I'd retired and I came

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across this ad for The nook for a gardener here and took it from there.

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I've thought that would be a good opportunity to give back and I

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like the idea of helping a family.

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That was my, sort of my second career really, I was a gardener

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and then I recently retired.

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I wanted to carry on working outside.

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There was a group of us, I think it was probably, there were about

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six of us, I think, who signed up.

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Monthly training courses, support, talking about all the ups and

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downs, what we could expect.

Julia: 00:05:44

Yeah, it was very good, very good.

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Sarah (host): For Anne, it is really important that

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each provide robust training.

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This means that volunteers like Julia can get started with confidence.

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You know, we're, we're quite aware it's a, um, it's quite a specific role.

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I feel we do offer training.

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Quite a lot of preparation and support for our volunteers before

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they even think about starting.

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They're invited to come in here to the hospice to have a chat or if the

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location isn't convenient for them, I can speak to them via teams or zoom because

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obviously we do cover the whole county.

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So it's quite, you know, wide reaching.

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They come into the hospice for a chat so they can learn a bit

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more about each and the role.

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We can learn a bit more about them and, you know, it's a mutual thing.

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Do we think it would be a good fit and do they think it's something that

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they might enjoy and find worthwhile?

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If we're both happy at that point, then we invite them to

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come in for sort of two days of induction and we really go through.

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Lots of topics that are crucial, like sort of some health and safety

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issues which have to be covered.

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I know everyone when you mention health and safety, but you know, we have a

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duty of care to the volunteers as well.

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So yeah, we go through quite a lot within that two days and that's really just to

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make sure That they feel fully prepared when they're going into a family's

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home so that they feel comfortable.

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It may be that some of the families have a lot of equipment in their home,

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so some might have alarmed support.

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Like feeding and that sort of thing.

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So it's just really so the volunteer is absolutely prepared when they go into

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the home to do what they're there to do.

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And we always say to both volunteers and families, in my experience,

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both parties feel a little bit nervous before they meet.

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And I think that's completely normal because from the family's point

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of view, they're coming to have volunteer come into their home.

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And likewise, from the volunteer's point of view, it's normal to

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feel, oh, you know, are we going to get along, that sort of thing.

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So that's completely normal, but we normally find any awkwardness that

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there may be within two or three visits, it's gone and it works well.

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Sarah (host): After her training, Julia was matched with a family to offer

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support by sharing her gardening skills.

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We spoke to a member of that family on the phone about their involvement with

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each and the help that Julia gives.

Louise: 00:08:16

My name's Louise, and I found each through, um, the oncology department

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at the Norwich and Norfolk Hospital, where my son is in treatment, um,

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currently, um, and has been for about three and a half years for leukaemia, ALL.

Louise: 00:08:32

I think actually a friend of the store, um, had a child who had a similar

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sort of thing, and they'd found a great help from the volunteer scheme.

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So, yeah, I just decided to look it up and went from there, really.

Louise: 00:08:45

Thanks Yeah, we had initially a lady come around and chat to us

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about things that could, we could potentially have, um, support with.

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So I think some of the things were like internal painting and the garden.

Louise: 00:08:58

So we were matched with Julia, who was a retired gardener.

Louise: 00:09:02

Um, she actually did that as her profession and, um, she was now

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volunteering for each at the Nook.

Louise: 00:09:09

And, um, yes, so she's been coming and helping maintain.

Louise: 00:09:14

My garden really.

Louise: 00:09:15

It's quite a mature garden.

Louise: 00:09:17

It gets a bit wild and yeah it's just been nice to have that kind

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of something taken off my mind.

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So we just discussed all the areas that potentially would be really

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helpful, um, to have support with.

Louise: 00:09:31

Then, uh, I think from there, I was then allocated, they kind of looked at what

Louise: 00:09:37

volunteers you had available, my needs, and then they matched us with Julia for

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the garden, then before, I think we had an initial meeting before she started

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to, Get to know each other and say hello.

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Yeah, what we kind of potentially needed doing.

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And then Julia started.

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Came on a weekly basis.

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And started the work.

Louise: 00:09:58

So it was really, really straightforward.

Louise: 00:10:00

Really easy.

Louise: 00:10:01

Yeah, worked really well.

Louise: 00:10:04

Sarah (host): As Anne described, it might not always feel easy to have an

Louise: 00:10:07

unfamiliar person in your home or garden.

Louise: 00:10:09

Especially when you're experiencing such challenging health issues.

Louise: 00:10:12

Yeah,

Louise: 00:10:18

I suppose you just wonder who it's going to be and, um, obviously

Louise: 00:10:24

things like, you know, are they going to be left alone in your house or, um,

Louise: 00:10:30

and those kind of the safety side of things, I suppose, may have been something

Louise: 00:10:36

that I, I thought about initially.

Louise: 00:10:39

But you do kind of build up a relationship with the, with the

Louise: 00:10:42

volunteer, as you see them on a regular basis, and actually, it's really nice.

Louise: 00:10:47

So support in other ways as well, and just having a chat with them, and getting to

Louise: 00:10:52

know them, and yeah, it's really nice to have that additional person, um, around.

Louise: 00:10:57

So, um, so yeah, they would probably be my main, um, Um, concerns are just

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that they were sort of, um, whether it's not DBS checked, but you know, I mean,

Louise: 00:11:10

like they, they've been checked out and they're, they're the right person for the

Louise: 00:11:14

job and also that they have, they are able to carry out the job to a decent level.

Louise: 00:11:21

And the level of skill would have been another thing I probably

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would have, um, asked about.

Louise: 00:11:27

I mean, with Julia, that she's, that has been her job for a lot of her life, so

Louise: 00:11:33

that was, um, definitely, and also the meeting, the pre meeting to starting

Louise: 00:11:37

the work, and, um, yeah, and the fact that I think she was very, very, um,

Louise: 00:11:45

You know, wanted a lot of feed, not feedback, but wanted to ask me what I

Louise: 00:11:49

wanted done, didn't just go and sort of start chopping things down or, um,

Louise: 00:11:54

without, without consulting me first.

Louise: 00:11:56

So it was very much a partnership, a collaboration, I suppose, um, and

Louise: 00:12:01

not just, you know, doing whatever she felt like she wanted to do.

Louise: 00:12:07

Sarah (host): Now that Julia is established as a volunteer with Louise,

Louise: 00:12:10

we asked Julia to describe what she does each week during a volunteering session.

Julia: 00:12:15

I usually do between two and four hours a week.

Julia: 00:12:18

I would just go to the garden.

Julia: 00:12:20

Sometimes I would see the family.

Julia: 00:12:22

Other times I just Get on with little weeding jobs here and there,

Julia: 00:12:26

and it's mainly maintaining the space for the family, really.

Julia: 00:12:31

We usually talk about what they would like, and usually they're

Julia: 00:12:34

just happy for you to do anything.

Julia: 00:12:36

I always thought, well, I'll do the weeding, because then they're

Julia: 00:12:39

looking out the window, and they're not looking at things that they can't

Julia: 00:12:43

do, so it's mainly that, really.

Julia: 00:12:45

For the families, I think you're taking You're taking that pressure off.

Julia: 00:12:49

It's a, particularly in the garden, that's probably a job that goes

Julia: 00:12:53

to the bottom of the list and oh, I'll always get round to it.

Julia: 00:12:56

And their lives are so busy and stressful.

Julia: 00:12:59

So I think it does take the pressure off them.

Julia: 00:13:01

And for me, I just like being outside.

Julia: 00:13:03

I really enjoy that.

Julia: 00:13:04

So mostly it is, I would say, speaking to other people that don't.

Julia: 00:13:10

It's maintaining, weeding, tidying, that sort of thing, really.

Julia: 00:13:15

And maybe a bit of pruning.

Julia: 00:13:18

But nobody expects you to be Monty Don, so that's quite good.

Julia: 00:13:24

Sarah (host): Although Julia is not expected to be Monty Don, Louise

Julia: 00:13:28

told us about the support that Julia does offer in the garden.

Louise: 00:13:31

She's focused on different areas really throughout the time

Louise: 00:13:35

she's been here, which I think has been an excellent thing.

Louise: 00:13:37

Six months or so now.

Louise: 00:13:39

So she's taken on different areas.

Louise: 00:13:40

She always asks me if there's anything specific that I want doing.

Louise: 00:13:44

But to be honest, I've been fairly flexible and just sort of let her crack

Louise: 00:13:47

on with what she feels needs doing.

Louise: 00:13:49

She knows best really as, as um, she's done that for her job.

Louise: 00:13:53

So yeah, she's kind of focused on, I've got an area now that's cornered

Louise: 00:13:56

off because I've Got an Airbnb kind of space down the end of the garden,

Louise: 00:14:00

so she focused on that, that area, and then she's cleared a lot of,

Louise: 00:14:04

sort of, near patio and seating area.

Louise: 00:14:07

She's cleared a lot of the borders there.

Louise: 00:14:09

Yeah, just generally tidy everything up, just general day to day sort

Louise: 00:14:12

of maintenance things that I've struggled to keep on top of when

Louise: 00:14:16

you're busy caring for your child.

Louise: 00:14:18

We had a few chats and, uh, she's a really nice lady, we got on very well.

Louise: 00:14:23

She did dig me a grave for one of my cats.

Louise: 00:14:26

which I still haven't got my cat out of the freezer from the vet.

Louise: 00:14:30

So, so yeah, that's been there a few months now and I do apologize

Louise: 00:14:34

to her if she's listening to this.

Louise: 00:14:36

She did do that.

Louise: 00:14:38

It's a back breaking work, bless her.

Louise: 00:14:40

And um, yes, we still haven't put the cat to rest.

Louise: 00:14:42

So I must get that done.

Louise: 00:14:44

But yeah, that was a big help because that was, that was something that

Louise: 00:14:47

I was dreading and putting off.

Louise: 00:14:49

So Julia got the job done, which I'm very thankful for.

Louise: 00:14:53

Sarah (host): Louise and Anne spoke about the difference that volunteers like Julia

Louise: 00:14:57

make for the families that they support.

Louise: 00:15:00

Actually, a really positive outcome from Julia coming around is

Louise: 00:15:05

actually I was talking to my auntie about the whole volunteering system.

Louise: 00:15:08

She's actually been coming around with me to help me paint.

Louise: 00:15:12

So we've painted together, we've painted a room at a time and we've

Louise: 00:15:16

almost painted the whole house.

Louise: 00:15:18

And she actually wants to look at volunteering for each and

Louise: 00:15:21

doing something for other people.

Louise: 00:15:23

And now she's actually had a chat with Julia when she was here.

Louise: 00:15:26

And wants to know more about doing that.

Louise: 00:15:28

So actually the ripple effect of having a volunteer here is actually it's It

Louise: 00:15:33

spurred me on, and with the help of my auntie, which I wouldn't have been

Louise: 00:15:36

able to do without, um, to get the inside of the house a bit more in order.

Louise: 00:15:41

And then, yeah, moving forward to add another volunteer to the mix.

Louise: 00:15:44

So yeah, it's had a really positive outcome for our family, really.

Anne: 00:15:49

I mean, I know what a difference it makes because of

Anne: 00:15:52

feedback, um, I've had from families.

Anne: 00:15:55

When, if it's all working well, volunteers stay with families

Anne: 00:15:59

for a maximum of one year.

Anne: 00:16:01

And then that particular arrangement will come to an end and if the volunteer

Anne: 00:16:05

wants to continue, they can then support another family and if the family would

Anne: 00:16:10

like another volunteer, if we have one, we can try and arrange that,

Anne: 00:16:14

but it comes to an end after a year.

Anne: 00:16:16

And I would speak to both family and.

Anne: 00:16:19

Volunteer after a year, see how it's gone, get any feedback, anything

Anne: 00:16:23

we can do to improve the service.

Anne: 00:16:25

So I know through the feedback that I've received at some of those end

Anne: 00:16:29

of agreements, how valued it is and what a difference it makes.

Anne: 00:16:34

We recently had a.

Anne: 00:16:37

sunken set of paving slabs in the approach to someone's front door and

Anne: 00:16:43

their child had very limited sight.

Anne: 00:16:46

And so they were constantly concerned about the child tripping because the

Anne: 00:16:51

sinkage was sort of quite significant.

Anne: 00:16:53

So, you know, it was a constant worry for them.

Anne: 00:16:55

One of our amazing volunteers who comes from a construction

Anne: 00:16:58

background, Thankfully, went out, just did the most fantastic job.

Anne: 00:17:03

He was such a perfectionist, you know, lifted the whole line of slabs,

Anne: 00:17:07

relayed the sand and cement mix, was there with his spirit level, making

Anne: 00:17:12

sure it was absolutely perfect.

Anne: 00:17:14

And in fact, he was such a perfectionist that as he went along lifting one line

Anne: 00:17:19

of slabs, it impacted slightly on the The next line behind it, and he was

Anne: 00:17:24

absolutely determined that that was going to be perfect for the volunteer.

Anne: 00:17:29

That was sort of three hours out of an afternoon, which he

Anne: 00:17:32

actually thoroughly enjoyed.

Anne: 00:17:34

But for that family, it meant it was a daily worry for them.

Anne: 00:17:39

It meant an enormous amount.

Anne: 00:17:41

So just a one off like that is it's very, very worthwhile.

Anne: 00:17:46

It's always talked about, you know, what do volunteers get back from volunteering?

Anne: 00:17:52

There's so many volunteering roles out there and, and it's

Anne: 00:17:55

often talked about that they get their own well being improves.

Anne: 00:18:00

They feel like, I know it can sound like a bit of a cliche, but this,

Anne: 00:18:04

this sort of saying of they feel like they're giving something back.

Anne: 00:18:07

But it's so, it's so true.

Anne: 00:18:09

It is very rewarding.

Anne: 00:18:10

And I think with this role, you really get to see that direct impact

Anne: 00:18:14

of the difference you're making.

Anne: 00:18:15

You've been to a family's home and you can literally see

Anne: 00:18:19

what a difference you've made.

Anne: 00:18:21

So yeah, it's great.

Anne: 00:18:23

I mean, it isn't a service that has been going for a massive amount of time.

Anne: 00:18:28

It started in 2016, I think.

Anne: 00:18:32

But I know it's a, there are similar schemes running through other hospices

Anne: 00:18:38

throughout the country and I know there's other, other charities that

Anne: 00:18:41

provide sort of similar schemes.

Anne: 00:18:44

I think the impact would be huge.

Anne: 00:18:47

Even if the family only get the support of that volunteer for one year.

Anne: 00:18:52

It's not only the difference that they see in their home or in their garden.

Anne: 00:18:57

Some of the feedback I get is, Oh, well, the volunteer comes and she

Anne: 00:19:01

does a couple of hours of gardening, and then we have a cup of tea and

Anne: 00:19:04

a quick chat before she goes home.

Anne: 00:19:06

And, you know, it can be quite isolating, um, for families.

Anne: 00:19:10

Having that chat, Can mean a lot.

Anne: 00:19:12

It can almost mean as much as having a garden nice and it's the

Anne: 00:19:16

reliability of the volunteer going.

Anne: 00:19:19

They know they don't have to explain anything to the volunteer.

Anne: 00:19:22

The volunteer just turns up, does a great job, leaves.

Anne: 00:19:26

And yeah, I think the impact if we didn't have the scheme.

Anne: 00:19:30

I think it would be really missed.

Anne: 00:19:32

I know from the amount of families that say they'd be

Anne: 00:19:36

interested in having a volunteer.

Anne: 00:19:38

Unfortunately, the number of families interested in the service outweighs

Anne: 00:19:41

the number of volunteers I have.

Anne: 00:19:43

So, you know, I know from the interest in it, how needed it is.

Anne: 00:19:49

We loved hearing

Anne: 00:19:50

Sarah (host): about the impact that volunteers with the Each Help at Home

Anne: 00:19:53

scheme make, and the variety of activities that volunteers can get involved with.

Anne: 00:19:57

We wrapped up our conversations with Julia, Anne and Louise by asking them to

Anne: 00:20:02

share their advice for someone who might be thinking about volunteering with Each.

Julia: 00:20:07

Just to do it, really.

Julia: 00:20:09

Not that it makes you really But it does make you feel good.

Julia: 00:20:13

You just have to commit to a little time each week.

Julia: 00:20:16

It's not a big chunk of your life.

Julia: 00:20:18

And it's great to give back, really, I think.

Julia: 00:20:20

Just come and join.

Julia: 00:20:24

Join the fun.

Julia: 00:20:25

There's great support from the volunteer coordinator and the training.

Julia: 00:20:30

And when we get together as volunteers, volunteers and that's a good peer support.

Anne: 00:20:36

Each is an amazing organization to support.

Anne: 00:20:41

There is a wealth of volunteering roles available at each.

Anne: 00:20:46

We're across three counties.

Anne: 00:20:48

I'd love to have more volunteers for help at home, but if you don't

Anne: 00:20:52

feel that's for you, we have retail volunteers, wellbeing, driving.

Anne: 00:20:58

Obviously fundraising and events, there is a role here for you at each,

Anne: 00:21:04

whatever you would like to do, I feel sure of that, but yeah, if anyone

Anne: 00:21:08

thinks help at home might be for them, then I'd love them to get in touch.

Louise: 00:21:12

I'd just say, I would just bite the bullet and give it a go, I think.

Louise: 00:21:17

Yeah, I think it's, I would imagine it's rewarding on both ends.

Louise: 00:21:20

It's something that I think I would definitely look into in the future,

Louise: 00:21:24

you know, in a few years time when everything's settled down with us and

Louise: 00:21:29

things are a bit more back to normality.

Louise: 00:21:31

Like I say, my auntie is now wanting to volunteer and I think it's just

Louise: 00:21:36

helping others is really rewarding and I think you build up a bit of

Louise: 00:21:40

a relationship with the volunteer and it's, it's support on both ends.

Louise: 00:21:45

different levels as well as the physical and, you know, the gardening.

Louise: 00:21:49

There's also that just having someone there that sometimes

Louise: 00:21:51

you can have a chat to.

Louise: 00:21:53

It's the emotional support as well.

Louise: 00:21:54

So, so yeah, I think give it a go.

Louise: 00:21:56

I don't think you will look back.

Louise: 00:22:00

Sarah (host): Thank you for listening to today's episode of Volunteering Discovery.

Louise: 00:22:04

A big thank you to Anne, Julia and Louise for sharing their experiences.

Louise: 00:22:09

If you are interested in discovering more about East Anglian Children

Louise: 00:22:12

Hospice or becoming a volunteer there, please check out their website on www.

Louise: 00:22:17

each.

Louise: 00:22:18

org.

Louise: 00:22:18

uk Please don't forget to subscribe, rate and review this podcast.

Louise: 00:22:24

It all helps people find us and spread the word about volunteering.

Louise: 00:22:28

This podcast was produced for the Norfolk Waverley Integrated Care

Louise: 00:22:31

System by Hospital Radio Norwich.

Louise: 00:22:34

Hosted by Sarah Briggs.

Louise: 00:22:36

Producer was Jules Auderson.

Louise: 00:22:38

Original music composed and performed by Philip Aldred.

Louise: 00:22:41

Interviews by Sarah Briggs and Jules Alderson.