What matters to the people in our care matters to me

Ward Sister Karen Delin has been a nurse at Saint Francis Hospice for 28 years. Here Karen shares why she is so passionate about palliative and end-of-life care and the difference she hopes to make to people’s lives. 

A few years after qualifying to be a nurse where I worked on cancer units, I decided to do a palliative care course. This required me to do a placement at Saint Francis Hospice and the rest is history because I never wanted to work anywhere else after that.  

It is amazing to be part of a team caring for people and letting them know that what they need and what they believe in matters, even when they can’t do everything for themselves anymore. Their life matters and finding joy in even a small thing each day matters. And if it matters to them, then it matters to me. I still feel that as strongly now as I did when I started at the hospice.  

Every day there’s something new and I don’t take that for granted. When I meet a person on the ward for the first time, I might have seen things similar to what they are presenting with, but it doesn’t make any difference. I look at everyone as an individual. They are frightened as they have not been in this position before.  It is so heartwarming to see the change in people after a couple of days on the ward. Often, they’ll say, ‘I cannot believe I was frightened to come in here. I feel calm now I am here.’ 

Loved ones are so important to what we do as they are special to the people under our care. We can’t take away their emotional pain, but sometimes to just be there to hold their hand, and give them space to be with their family member, their loved one, is enough.

When I think about success, on a personal level, it is knowing that I have done the best I possibly can to help the people we care for. When that happens, I am so proud because I want that for each person. Success on a much bigger scale would be that people can talk about end of life and palliative care without being frightened because they know there is a support system there for them.

Karen’s words are taken from the December edition of The Change Makers Podcast which celebrates remarkable people in the not-for-profit sector who dedicate their carers to changing people’s lives. You can listen to the ChangeMakers podcast wherever you get your podcasts.