Latest news with #Hospice
Press and Journal
05-06-2025
- Business
- Press and Journal
Inverness Ice Centre returns from near 'rock bottom' with major events venue ambitions
Despite ice rinks around the country at risk of closing their doors, Inverness Ice Centre has returned from the financial brink and is back on its feet. The centre fell into trouble in recent times after energy price hikes doubled their energy costs from £12,000 to £30,000 a month. Now, after threats of closure and nearly reaching 'rock bottom,' Ice Centre chief executive Gordon Barron has high hopes the centre has a positive future ahead. Mr Barron has been looking forward to being back on good terms after a successfully implemented recovery plan in May secured it's future. This includes receiving a £150,000 loan from Social Investment Scotland. Part of the recovery also involved negotiating a lower energy tariff with supplier npower, which comes into effect in October. Mr Barron explained these were necessary steps, as the centre was sliding towards 'rock bottom.' He said: 'We were in the trough in the last two years, but we are already on the upward trajectory. 'We can get back and concentrate on curling, ice skating and ice hockey and do more events in the off season.' For several months over the summer, the ice centre loses its ice. This is part of the centre's continued plan to diversify into an events space, which began after the Ironworks closure when energy prices were nearing their highest. Mr Barron explained this led the Ice Centre to transform into a 'professional venue' and off-ice activity has trebled in the last three years. It has seen a number of successful events hosted in the space, from boxing to the Inver90s music event, which brought around 1,300 people into the centre. However, Mr Barron stresses 'we've got to strike that right balance' when it comes to events as 'our charitable purpose is about providing ice sports for the community.' But holding events in the Ice Centre is not a new phenomenon. Back when it opened in 1968, the centre had ice for just six months of the year. The Clash played the centre in 1982, and the annual success story of hosting Inverness' strictly dancing competition has given the centre the confidence to branch out further. The latest Strictly Inverness event helped the centre to blast back. Organisers say it has raised around £300,000 this year for the centre and their partners the Highland Hospice. The latest event drew crowds of around 2,400 over four days and was 'up there with one of the best that we held' according to Wendy Morgan, who is Strictly organiser and communications manager at the Hospice. Miss Morgan spoke of the nine-month journey to bring the Strictly event to life every year, which has now run successfully for 14 years since 2010, breaking only for Covid. She said: 'It's so well loved. A lot of people think that everyone who does Strictly comes because they want to support the Hospice. 'But we get lots of people coming in and saying they are doing it because they've got fond memories of the ice centre. 'They maybe used to go to roller discos, or skating lessons, or their family uses the facility. It is hugely popular.' For an event like Strictly, Miss Morgan said the ice centre is 'perfect,' and called the centre an 'amazing community resource.' 'A lot of people do say it's the best night out they have all year in Inverness,' she added. The centre has a lot of loyal ice sport fans who keep coming back to the centre. Teenagers participating in sports tend to 'drift off' as they get older, Mr Barron said. But many ice skaters continue with the sport at the centre past their teens, because 'they really love it.' Several senior curlers have been Ice Centre regulars since they opened in 1968. Mr Barron believes the Ice Centre is more than meets the eye, with the facility a 'support system' to many in Inverness and beyond. He said: 'We have a fundraising choir for Maggie's, we've got yoga, we've got Pilates, we've got a sunroom as well. 'Quiz nights, race nights, wine and gin tasting – there's a whole range of things in here. 'We are more than an ice rink. I mean, we genuinely are a social hub.' After a previous report on the uncertainty of the Ice Centre's future, several public bodies and groups have since been in touch to offer their assistance. Mr Barron said this has allowed the centre to start planning a 'viable and sustainable' future to 'be here – for the long term.' A three-phase plan (with phase one now nearly complete) hopes to achieve this. The two future phases involve shorter and longer term proposals to make the centre more green and improve facilities for users. These include solar panels, LED lighting, draft proofing and electricity monitoring of the ice plant. Mr Barron estimates electricity monitoring and voltage optimisation of the plant could save 15% of the centre's energy costs alone. While Mr Barron said 'You can't do them all at the same time,' these improvements would have the 'greatest impact' on the centre.
The Citizen
04-06-2025
- Business
- The Citizen
Shop and support palliative care at Zululand Hospice thrift store
Make a difference in your community by visiting Zululand Hospice Association's thrift shop. A hidden gem for thrifting, their shop at 18 Turnbull Street, Empangeni has pre-loved items such as clothes, books and bric-a-brac at budget-friendly prices. ALSO READ: Community rolls in to support Zululand Hospice at bowling fundraiser Discounts include 50% off all items on the last Friday of each month, and 50% off clothes on the 15th and 16th. Sifting through the items, one can often find hidden treasures and great bargains, and make a difference in helping the NPO with its ongoing palliative care efforts in the community. The Hospice shop is open Monday to Thursday from 8.30am to 4pm, and on Fridays from 8.30am to 3pm, while closed on weekends. Don't miss out on their Potjiekos Competition on 28 June at the Moth Hall in Empangeni from 8.30am, where there will be cash prizes and a car boot sale (at R100 per car). For more information, contact Hospice fundraiser Engela Borlase on 073 2384382 or the organisation on 035 7724910. Contact details: GM Christine Samuel: manager@ Fundraiser Engela Borlase: rbay@ Don't have the ZO app? Download it to your Android or Apple device here: HAVE YOUR SAY Like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. For news straight to your phone invite us: WhatsApp – 060 784 2695 Instagram – zululand_observer At Caxton, we employ humans to generate daily fresh news, not AI intervention. Happy reading!
Time Out
02-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Roll out the barrel for Bastille Festival
Wine lovers, are you ready to don your red, white, and blue? The Franschhoek Bastille Festival returns this winter, bringing French flair, fine wine, and festive vibes to the Cape Winelands on Saturday, 12th and Sunday, 13th July 2025. This is the 33rd edition of the much-loved winter festival, and this year it will be held in a brand-new location in the heart of the village. While the 2024 festival (which was delayed by stormy weather) took place on the Franschhoek High School rugby field, in 2025 festival-goers will head to the Hospice parking area, featuring a refreshed layout brimming with the region's fine wines and tasty bites set to a soundtrack of live entertainment. The two-day Bastille Festival features all the classics you've come to know and love: a wine and cheese experience with tastings from top local estates, artisanal food stalls, and the ever-popular best-dressed competition. Tickets cost R390 per person per day and include a souvenir wine glass and 10 tasting tokens. New for the 2025 festival is a series of wine experiences called Uncorked Exclusive : a more curated wine-tasting experience showcasing premium pours in an intimate setting for serious wine enthusiasts. These tastings cost extra (R120 per person) and feature the likes of Pasarene, Holden Manz, Babylonstoren, and more. Some, such as La Motte, are already sold out! Outside the main marquee, the village is set to buzz with Bastille energy. Church Street will transform into a pedestrian-friendly food fair, while Celebration Square will host street performers, live music, and open-air eateries.
Yahoo
01-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
'Dead Girl' fights cancer and more, lives to share her story
May 30—Palliative nurse's notes, Aug. 2, 2019: "Participated in Hospice meeting with patient. Seth (spouse), mother, father, bedside RN. Andrea from Hospice was on speakerphone. Discussed philosophy of Hospice and services they provide. Advised that by accepting Hospice, patients have a terminal diagnosis with less then six months to live. Patient was surprised by this, stating she would not qualify. Gina had several questions regarding cancer diagnosis, stating, 'I don't think I am terminal' and unaware of staging/diagnosis .... Patient continues to repeat she is only 46 years old and would like to continue with a treatment as offered and hopefully start immunotherapy when able. Seth was in agreement and supportive." — Book excerpt WATERTOWN — Eugenia Mancini Horan opens the front door of her parent's home on outer Bradley Street to welcome a visitor, this writer, who tells her that from what he's read about her, she looks amazing. "Your reaction is much like when I go to a new doctor and they open the door and are like, 'I was expecting someone deader,'" she says, laughing. Eugenia ("Gina") has crawled, bled, begged, argued, rejoiced and has been mocked through the ravages of stage 4 cancer. It is simply amazing, a miracle some say, that she is alive and cancer free. She recounts her 2019 cancer journey in the self-published, "The Dead Girl's Guide to Terminal Cancer: A True Tale of Anxiety, Horror & Hope." It's been the number one best seller on Amazon's lung cancer category for several weeks. It's a hardbound 400 pages, the size of a college textbook and its emotional weight vastly outweighs its 2 pounds. Its cover features a deer-in-the headlights-like self-portrait of the author, who has won a slew of awards on the local arts scene for her oil paintings. Readers have called the book darkly humorous and poignant. With its various characters, tragic subplots of her youth, family dynamic and medical notes, its is also novelesque. For the gist of it, Gina summarizes it all in the book's afterward: "There are no heroes in this story, no saviors, no 'Good Doc With a Cure,' coming in for a last-minute save. There is only medical bias, cancer bias, and the notion that a girl who is afraid of the world can't fight like a rabid animal to stay alive." 'Let me live' "My whole story is fighting people to get them to let me live," Gina said in the room of her parents' home, where in 2019, a hospital bed was set up in front of a picture window and where many expected her to meet her demise while battling lung cancer which she said had spread to her trachea, bronchus and small bowel. "Somebody should be treated like they're dead when they are already dead." "It's such a scary diagnosis and we have put such faith in the white lab coat," said Seth, who helped his wife with the book. "I know because we did it. You will cling to anything you are told. That has been the most horrifying, duh! moment during this whole process: to have the curtain pulled back and it's like, these are just people. And people make mistakes. And every one of them made a mistake with her." "When putting out the book, you couldn't think about someone reading it because it's like, 'Here is every bad thing that ever happened to me and people treating me badly.' Would you like to read it? It's embarrassing," Gina said. "But I thought in it, there's got to be something that can help people: look for these red flags, don't just trust. I've been a cancer advocate for five years and now I have two enemies." One of those enemies, she said, is God. "Which sounds harsh, but people pray to God that he's going to cure cancer, so they become inactive." The second: "People implicitly trusting that their doctors have their best health in mind when they come up with cures. No doctor comes up with a cure. It's a list. It's, 'If you have this cancer, in this stage, this is what you get.'" Gina's "Dead Girl's Guide to Terminal Cancer" encapsulates one year, 2019, from when she was diagnosed to when she saved herself, thanks to her desperate pleas to try immunotherapy — specifically Keytruda — a type of immunotherapy that works by blocking a pathway to help prevent cancer cells from hiding. Immunotherapy uses a person's own immune system to fight cancer. Blood and a diagnosis Gina woke up on Christmas morning, 2018, at their home in North Syracuse and thought she had the flu or something. When she coughed, she noticed little flecks of blood on a tissue. As a smoker, she thought it could be normal. "But one night, it was abnormal," she said. "It was nose-bleed-like." She also experienced shortness of breath and a racing heartbeat. Gina said she has had symptoms of anxiety disorder since age 5 and was finally diagnosed with it at age 17. Considered disabled, she has Medicaid. At the medical appointment to address what she was coughing up, she said she was told, 'I think you just got yourself worked up with your anxiety.'" "And I'm like, 'That's powerful. I was torn because I wanted her to say it was nothing, and then when she said it was nothing, it was, 'I can't let it go. Can we run some blood work?' By the time we got home, the phone was ringing. I failed that blood work bad." What followed was a series of tests and scans that wreaked havoc on Gina's anxiety. She was diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer in mid-February, 2019 at a Syracuse hospital, one of two hospitals in that city which treated her during her year-long ordeal. She doesn't name the hospitals in the book and requested the Syracuse hospitals not be named here. Radiology summary/Feb. 15, 2019: Impression: Right apical lobulated mass is seen. Right hilar lymph nodes are seen possibly exerting a mass effect on the right main bronchus. No pulmonary arterial embolus is identified." In the top portion of her uppermost lobe, there was an unusual mass. Also, some lymph nodes had grown large enough to restrict airflow through her right main bronchus. Surgery, which didn't make sense to Gina, was recommended. "How was taking out two lobes of my lungs — to remove the origin tumor that wasn't causing any issue — going to help with the mass that was actually threatening my life? Was this just busy work?" she writes in the book. A cancer diagnosis can bring thoughts of chemotherapy. That wasn't originally in the cards for Gina, a "card-carrying emetrophopbic." Emetophobia is the fear of vomiting and can be triggered just by seeing someone else being sick. As an alternative, Gina and Seth tried highly concentrated cannabis oil. Meanwhile, Gina's parents, Eugene and Clorise Mancini, urged her to come home to Watertown as her health declined. Gina and Seth moved there in May, 2019. "The drive there filled me with both anxiety and salvation," Gina wrote in the book. "Seth figured out how to get the oxygen compressor to work in the car." Gina could not walk to the front door, and it marked the first of hundreds of times that Seth would carry his wife. This year, on the sixth-year anniversary of her diagnosis, Gina, on Facebook, paid tribute to Seth, who she married in 2006: "My husband dropped everything when I got sick to be my caregiver. For five months everywhere I needed to go, he carried me because I couldn't walk. Bedpans? Did that. Suctioning out my trach? That too. Butt wiping? Yup, even that. Yet, most days, we still laughed because we were still us." Gina entered Walker Center for Cancer Care at Samaritan Medical Center, Watertown, for the first time on June 5, 2019, where she would stay as an inpatient for a week. She agreed to start chemotherapy on June 7, which continued weekly for five infusions before she had a hyperbaric breathing emergency and was taken by ambulance to an intensive care unit at a Syracuse hospital. She was at that ICU from July 17 to Aug. 9. "The chemo has failed me. I'm in a very bad place medically,"she wrote in a July 18, 2019 Facebook post. She was given a zero percent chance of survival. Hematology & Oncology Fellow notes July 31, 2019 "Patient has received palliative radiation therapy. 3 daily fractions in addition to one endobronchial brachytherapy ... Keytruda will not be given to an inpatient and patient needs to be more medically stable to be eligible for and tolerate further therapy." In the ICU, Gina was starving and her weight plummeted. A couple of photographs of a gaunt-looking Gina are on the book's back cover. "The reason I put those pictures there is because I was not sick because of cancer, but because of not being treated. It was, 'We are not going to feed the patient because the patient is dying. The patient is dying because she isn't being fed.' One of the reasons I wrote the book is because nobody around me understood the extent of the abuse that was happening, I know without a doubt, had I been able to talk, the entire story would have been different, because I would not have been docile about this happening." Excerpt from Psychological evaluation Aug. 1, 2019 "Patient clearly and persistently repeated ... that she wanted palliative care only rather than aggressive Rx intended to extend life because aggressive Rx was unlikely to work, and hospitalization was so unpleasant." "In retrospect, I had made an almost fatal error," Gina wrote. "I hadn't been willing to lie about my belief in my own death in order to get out." In other words, she said she had to be purposely deceptive to get into Hospice. On Aug. 9, 2019, Gina left the hospital for Hospice care at her North Syracuse home. It was a Friday. "The Hospice coordinator told us that someone would be back in 72 hours," Gina wrote. "She also told Seth I had about three days to live. What excruciating math." Gina received Hospice care for six days, after which she and Seth cut ties with it. Her goal was to return to the home she grew up in, in Watertown. She arrived Aug. 15. Seth carried her into the house. "I knew I was in very bad shape," Gina wrote. "But there was no time for pessimism, and the hard work ahead didn't scare me." At SMC, two weeks after her "two weeks to live," she pleaded to a doctor for a Keytruda prescription. But the doctor would not budge in her refusal. "My temper now getting the best of me, I snarled: 'So, what you're telling me is that you are afraid the Keytruda might kill me before the cancer you know will kill me? Is that the argument? Am I clear on that?' But please, please, just give me a f****** chance to fail. Please don't make the choice for me." The doctor relented. On Aug. 29, 2019, Gina received her first Keytruda infusion. It would be a 30-minute process every three weeks. Two days later, she wrote that her fever subsided. Her lung opened up 15 days later, creating movement in her body, near her rib cage, that was frightening at first. By the second infusion, she was sitting up on her own. She would continue to get stronger, building back every muscle in her body. By late September, Gina was using a walker in her parents' driveway. On Halloween, at her fourth Keytruda infusion at the Walker Cancer Center, Gina saw a nurse that she hadn't seen in over a month. Her book recounts the nurse's reaction: "I watched all the color drain from her face, and she dropped to her knees as she grabbed the cross around her neck. She began to sob right there on the floor. I ran over to comfort her, and she still looked at me as if I were a ghost." Gina believes she could have been given Keytruda on day one, sparing her body the indignity of wasting away. It would have also voided a $2 million ICU stay, she said. Despite being on Medicaid, Gina said she and Seth acquired about $200,000 in medical debt, noting, "living against medical advice isn't covered by Medicaid." They deployed their credit cards, sought financial help from her parents and a GoFundMe drive raised $15,000. "Nobody fights, especially not on Medicaid, because they expect you can't." No cancer, no naïvety Gina's most recent medical appointment reflected being 5 1/2 years cancer free. She is also free from her naïvety relating to medical care. "I think when you see a movie about a severe illness, there's a kind, compassionate, dedicated doctor cheering on the patient, staying up nights to figure out a way, a solution, a plan. I kinda expected that. I miss that naive me. And the patient is stoic, brave, suffering beautifully and angelically. Almost from the day of my diagnosis, I thought of that patient, the Hallmark Heroine. The thing about that woman? She always dies at the end, and people sob because it was so unfair." But that wasn't her fate, or in her nature. "I'd already had 46 years of being cynical, sarcastic and a bit of a jokester. And cancer didn't change that, because I refused to let it own me. To take over, to take away my ability to make fun of any and everything. They say a positive attitude is super beneficial in cancer, but I hope I have shattered that belief." Being "afraid of the world" was also a factor in Gina's cancer battle. "That made it easier to deal with, in a way. It was just another thing to be scared of. I was equally as afraid of going to the hospital, as I was of dying. It absolutely 100 percent saved my life. Without doubt or hesitation. Anxiety teaches you to look for the danger, seek all the exits, and always be prepared to flee. But perhaps above all, avoid situations that feel terrifying. Everything after February 15, 2019 felt out of control, and terrifying. No one in the medical world would have conversations anymore, they only talked at me." The thing about anxiety with PTSD, Gina explained, is that one can become very calm in chaos. "You think clear, sharp and exact. Stillness and boredom are terrifying, but the world blowing up clears the mind. And I think that's why I was able to spot flaws in my treatment plans and question the motivations for them that were nonsensical to me." A key pep talk Despite the medical professionals who "only talked at" Gina and recalled in her book, she also highlighted in her book a few individuals that gave her hope. One was a "Dr. Lee" who was doing a rotation as a hospitalist at SMC, while doing his actual residency at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo. He now works in Texas. "Dr. Lee was my magic. It's like he came in at the beginning with the best pre-game pep talk, and I followed it the rest of my journey. He was young and didn't have the ego or entitlement I've seen in so many other oncologists I encountered. He was enthusiastic about killing cancer. Stoked. Raring to go. Running into work to kill some cancer!" Gina said that he was also the first and last doctor to root for her. "Which likely sounds odd. But the doctors who saw me get better weren't impressed. It wasn't remarkable to them. They just thought I'd die." The biggest gaping wound Gina said she encountered in oncology was the lack of "heart" she saw in it. "The point is, if there were more Dr. Lee's, I honestly believe more people would survive. Caring spills over into treatment plans, into feeling valued, into a bond of trust, and helps avert not distrusting the doctors, the medicine, the conspiracies." Last month, Gina sent Dr. Lee a copy of her book with a note inside. "And now I feel a bit lighter. It was, in some way, vital for me to let him know how deeply he mattered, that I didn't die, and the part he played in that. And how many fans he has out there in the world now." Helping others As an advocate, Gina said she is contacted nearly every day by people who become familiar with her story. "I'm absolutely thrilled others find something of merit in the book. I didn't want to publish it. It was never my intent. But I felt a deep sense of survivor's guilt, and also I had seen and heard things that might help others avoid some of the unnecessary suffering I endured." Gina said that doctors still regard her as a Stage 4 cancer patient. "The reason is, is that somewhere in my body could be invisible, undetectable, latent cancer cells waiting to come back. The problem with that is that everybody has that. You do, he does," she said, pointing to Seth. I probably don't, because that Keytruda is bad ass!" Her situation is an issue each time she goes to a doctor, "From people being surprised, to the question of whether or not my being screened for other cancers is necessary because, I'm dying." She then laughed, and with well-earned sarcasm added, "I'm always 'dying.' Like, damn! I can't get a break."
Daily Record
30-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Record
Husband's hospice pledge after docs told wife she had only six weeks to live
Norman Rennie and his beloved wife Linda were together for 40 years - before Linda's devastating cancer diagnosis. A husband has spoken of his admiration for the work of the Ayrshire Hospice - after they helped his wife following a devastating cancer diagnosis. Norman Rennie and his beloved wife Linda were together for 40 years - before doctors told her she only had six weeks to live. But in the weeks leading up to Linda's passing, Norman was supported to the hilt by the staff at the Ayrshire Hospice. Now Norman is paying a little back and pledged to support the organisation's Spring Appeal by sharing Linda's story. Linda, who died in 2016, was cared for in her home by the Ayrshire Hospice. Norman, who worked in hospitality across Ayrshire for 60 years, including Seamill Hydro for 25 years, takes up the story. He recalled: 'During my time in Seamill, we hosted the Autumn Ball, and that's when I started to become more aware of what the Hospice is about.' In April 2016, Norman and Linda received the devastating news that she had a life-shortening illness – with doctors giving the couple six weeks left together. Norman said: 'How do you go home and make the best of six weeks when somebody's dying? We were together for 40 years– you live to make sure the other person has the best.' Following her diagnosis, Norman and Linda returned home, where Norman was prepared to look after Linda himself. Then the Ayrshire Hospice began helping Norman to care for Linda – and, crucially, to support Norman too. He said: 'When the Hospice came to the house, they said they were coming to see Linda – but they just as concerned about the person that would be left behind. 'Simple things, like the Complementary Therapists coming in to massage her feet. The cancer had spread everywhere, but your feet are the most sensitive area – and that really helped her. 'When they were finished with Linda, they would give me a massage too – so that I could give my best to Linda. And even after she died, they continued that for three weeks. They came and gave me massages at home. 'I remember one day – it was lovely outside and I'd just cut the grass – the therapist said 'I think we'll take the bed outside today.' I'll always remember that.' Since Linda's death, Norman has continued to tirelessly support the Ayrshire Hospice as an ambassador, volunteer and most recently taking part in the 'Full Monty' fundraising event, which raised more than £38,000. 'Why do we support the Ayrshire Hospice? Because the Hospice will support us,' Norman said. 'They were there for me and Linda – and now it's my turn to do what I can.' Lucy Glendinning, Senior Fundraiser (Individual Giving), added: 'Norman's story is another example of the care and support the Ayrshire Hospice provides to those who need us across Ayrshire and Arran - whether it be in our In-patient Unit or in the community, our person-centred care for patients and their loved ones in the environment of their choosing.' To read more about Norman's journey with the Hospice, and to support this year's Spring Appeal, go to or call the Ayrshire Hospice's Fundraising Team on 01292 288 488 to donate. Each and every penny is gratefully received by the team.
