Time to get on your bike

Despite the sterling work of the some 25 clubs and groups raising funds for North Westmeath Hospice Care, the message from chairperson Marie O"Brien is that more is needed and as such she is urging anyone who can to get on their bike this April 19 for the second annual charity cycle.Rising costs mean that rapidly depleted funds must be replenished and since the work of Hospice Care is entirely run on donations, now more than ever the charity is need of your help.'People sometimes think that Hospice Care is funded by the HSE but in fact we are entirely dependent on monies raised. It was in fact because of the obvious gap in palliative care services that Hospice Care was funded back in 1995.'We would also like to reassure everyone who gives their time and money that everything raised locally stays locally and what they have given over the last 14 years has made a huge difference to the lives of both patients and their loved ones.'Marie"s involvement with North Westmeath care began on a purely professional level as her pharmacy supplied the special drugs required by doctors and nurses providing care to those with terminal diagnoses.'I always had an interest in hospice care because of my work as a pharmacist,' said Marie. 'It"s actually part of the training but I wasn"t on the committee or anything when the role of chairperson came up.'I"m actually only the second chair and I took up the post after it was advertised when Jim Hoey retired three years ago. In that time I have seen people from all over Westmeath really doing everything that they can to raise funds for us.The most recent event was the Honda cycle in Delvin over Paddy"s weekend and that had a great turn out and the Disco Go Go that was held recently in the Greville Arms was also a great success.'But our service is becoming increasingly in demand as more and more people chose to receive care in their own homes. What it means is that our nurses, who are on call 24 hours a day and seven days a week, are needed more and then you have all the costs associated with that.Nurses wages are 80 per cent funded by what we raise so you can see how vital it is for us to keep the funds coming in.'We also have a carer relief scheme which means that someone can also stay with a patient overnight to give the carer a much needed break and we also offer some complementary therapies such as aromatherapy.'We have also given €79,000 to kit out two rooms at the planned Phase 2B of the Mullingar regional hospital. At the minute there are two hospice beds at the St Camillus nursing centre in Killucan.'If people want to help then what I would say to them is bring bike and a helmet along to the Down"s GAA club on April 19 at 1pm.The bike must be serviceable and they have to be there at 1pm sharp as we are setting off at 2pm. The plan is to cycle out to the Old School House in Ballinafid beside the Covert to meet those who left for the cycle to Sligo the day before.Hopefully we will all meet up on their return leg. Last year the cycle raised €36,000.'Aside from that people can log onto our new website which is www.northwestmeathhospice.ie if they want to find out more about our services or to make a donation.'