Fresh breath of support for palliative patients
The generosity of a local charity store will support Grampians Health patients in palliative care.
Craft for a Cause is a small shop in McLachlan Street, Horsham, that relies on volunteers and the support of the Uniting Church to operate.
Shop manager Jan Morris said Crafts for a Cause sold locally made craft work and home grown produce and plants.
“We rely on stock from more than 100 local suppliers,” Ms Morris said.
“We sell their items for them and keep 25 percent which is then donated to a cause that we choose.”
Crafts for a Cause donated $5000 to Horsham’s palliative care team for the purchase of a portable oxygen concentrator.
Horsham-based Grampians Health palliative care nurse Jody Membrey said the donation would be a great support to her patients.
“Palliative patients generally have an oxygen concentrator at home to keep up their oxygen level but they can’t take that with them to appointments,” Ms Membrey said.
“However, they can borrow the portable device from our team when they have an appointment so they can still maintain their oxygen flow.”
Ms Membrey said the donation came at the right time because the previous device had stopped working.
“It’s good to have one again and would be even better to have a back-up one,” she said.
“We are very thankful to Jan and the volunteers at Craft for a Cause because a portable oxygen concentrator is a big expense for these people at what is already a difficult time in their lives.”
Pictured above: Palliative care nurse Jody Membrey, right, shows the portable oxygen concentrator to from left, Jan Morris, palliative care nurse Kellie Afford and Wimmera Cancer Centre manager Carmel O’Kane.