19 Dec 2018 Care

Christmas at Kirkwood: Seamus’ Story

Christmas is a very special time of year for all families, but particularly for those receiving care at the end of life. Our teams at Kirkwood make sure to go the extra mile to ensure that our patients and their families have the best quality time together possible, and make special memories each Christmas.

Meet Seamus. Seamus has been working at Kirkwood as the Family and Spiritual Care Team Leader for almost 14 years. Through the nature of his work, Seamus has met hundreds of bereaved families and knows just what a special, but difficult, time of year Christmas is. This is Seamus’ story:

“Christmas is a very special time here. I’ve been involved in the Light up a Life services as well as the Christmas services since I’ve been here and I find it an extremely peaceful and emotional time of year, probably exactly like the people we serve. We work with families who are in spiritual, emotional and psychological pain, and Christmas for them is a time of remembering.

“People are coming to us for bereavement support so Christmas is a particularly special, but difficult, time of year. For me, Christmas is my most spiritual time and it’s a time I really enjoy. The atmosphere around here and there always seems to be a bit of excitement in the air.

“Christmas is a very magical time of year, but also a very sad time for a lot of people. I’m really humbled to be a part of people’s journeys at this time of year.

“One person said to me the other day that leading up to Christmas, and Christmas itself, is a particularly difficult time of year because the losses that they feel become more magnified.

“One of the things I see us doing as a Hospice is helping people to cope with that anxiety so we can help turn that into really positive energy. People may think ‘I might be suffering tremendously but there’s a lot of love, care and support around.’”