Our scheduled speaker (Conrad from Habitat) had to defer his appearance until next week, so our Membership was extremely fortunate that Simon Jones was able to step in at short notice to present to us on ‘Dove Hospice’.
Simon reminded us that our Club has played a huge part in the development over the years of Dove Hospice, with member Isabella Tedcastle being one of the founding patrons, and noted that next year will be the 30th Anniversary of the organisation (established in 1992). Member Graham Fabian (New World Stonefields) is their Deputy Chairman and this year he was instrumental in underwriting the Club's Annual Golf Tournament, which was very successful and resulted in RC St Johns making a substantial donation to Dove Hospice.
Simon has been a Volunteer Trustee of Dove Hospice for six years and CEO for 18 months and was invited in by club member Gary Key, also a long serving Volunteer Trustee.
Based in the grounds of St Andrew's Retirement Village (Glendowie), the tendrils of Dove have supported many people and the impact of the high-quality care offered by Dove Hospice is profound.
Simon advised that $100 million of Government funding is invested into approximately 40 Hospices throughout NZ, with an additional $60 million raised by Hospices through their retail shops, gifts and donations.
Hospice deliver services to approximately 40,000 New Zealander’s every year. Dove is different because unlike the other Hospices, they receive no direct government funding, with around $6 million coming in from the community with almost 100% of this coming from the Retail shops (with two new stores opened recently).
All Dove Hospice services are provided to the community at ‘no charge’. Dove at St Andrews offers Outpatient and Inpatient care; has 100% occupancy of three beds and access to a further eight beds. In addition to Palliative care they offer Respite care and a long list of clinical services. They recently employed two full-time palliative care Nurse specialists. The three pillars of Dove Hospice are: 1] Clinical, 2] Retail and 3] Volunteers & Donors.
During lockdown, because the retail shops were closed, Dove lost ALL income, but despite this they we able to retain 100% of their clinical capability with only some admin roles cut back during that time. 18 months later, Simon reports their budget is 30% higher than they ever had!
Through their retail shops they ‘Turn Second-hand goods into first class hospice care’. At present Dove have approximately 60 staff, with about 60% of whom are clinically focussed. Around 25 staff run the very complex and large contribution centre and retail operations.
Dove is very proud that for every $1 donated to them, approximately 40-50 cents goes directly into Hospice. For context Simon advised this compares with World Vision where for every dollar donated to them, 80-85 cents goes into the admin cost of delivering their services globally. Dove is very proud of these reinvestment ratios.
Of those who use Dove Hospice services, two thirds have some form of cancer and one third other illnesses. Often not known is their services have an additional and very positive role in assisting with returning many clients to ‘Wellness’. Around 50% of Dove’s service (unique to Dove and not offered by other Hospices) is in return to ‘wellness’ services. There is shortly to be a rebrand of ‘Dove Hospice and Wellness’ to recognise this ‘Wellness’ component.
Thank you, Simon for giving us such an interesting and comprehensive update on Dove Hospice. Our Club is very proud of the close association with have with Dove Hospice.
(Note From Ed. Many thanks for this story Robyn in my absence last week)