On Monday the Alexandra Hospice shop celebrated its first decade according to form by giving away tickets in a raffle.
Manager Brigitte Meyer said the store was busier than ever with customers coming in for a variety of reasons from those who enjoyed op-shopping to those in need looking for reasonably priced items.
The store had been in the Centrepoint Mall location for five years after shifting from a smaller space in Centennial Ave where it was for its first five years, she said.
All profits from the store went to Otago Community Hospice — the only specialist palliative care provider in Otago.
In the past three years nearly 500 patients in Central Otago had been cared for by community hospice. A recent grant from the Central Lakes Trust would allow even more people to be cared for.
While community hospice was partially government funded it still needed to raise $3 million each year to fill the funding gap. Hospice shops were a major contributor to fundraising.
Hospice care was a unique whole person approach covering physical, spiritual, emotional and social needs, delivered by specialist multidisciplinary teams that included nurses, doctors, social workers, a kaupapa Māori care co-ordinator and counsellor.
It also included the patient’s family providing them with ongoing support and education. Patients were cared for wherever they wanted to be — in their home, in a residential care home setting or, if their needs were complex, within our inpatient unit. Wherever possible, it is aimed to keep people in their environment, symptom-free, for as long as possible.
