If anybody knows about the many different services we have to offer it has to be Zoe Reidy.
For although she’s now an Assistant Practitioner in the St Luke’s Therapies Team, she has 25 years’ experience in many different walks of hospice life.
“I actually started out cleaning, then I worked in housekeeping and helped out in the kitchen before becoming a bank Healthcare Assistant, eventually becoming a Physiotherapy Assistant and eventually moving on to where I am now,” she says.
“It’s been a long journey and I think what helped me was my fellow St Luke’s staff who believed in me and knew I could do the things I wanted to do.”
Today Zoe is part of the Integrated Palliative Outcome Scales (IPOS) system, taking patients through the questions that most affect them and gleaning the responses that will help the whole St Luke’s team gain a better picture of the care needed.
“It may not sound much but I really do sit and chat with the patients, have a laugh and a joke with them, put them at their ease," she says.
“I like being with the patients, listening to them and making them smile especially when they are here for the first time, which can be daunting.”
“By putting them at their ease they quickly realise that St Luke’s isn’t what they expect – they are quite surprised by the normality of it all.”
And even after 25 years Zoe is still finding new areas to explore and new skills to master.
“I’ve been learning to drive the mini bus,” she laughs. “Now I can help to collect patients from their homes when they are visiting and I really like that!”