Power-walking the 50km Taupo Ultramarathon to raise funds for Waipuna Hospice

I decided to do the Taupo 50km Ultramarathon because I want to continue to challenge myself and thought let's raise funds for Waipuna Hospice at the same time! I also work in the In-Patient Unit at Waipuna Hospice as a Enrolled Nurse seeing the day to day needs and benefits of our services.

Waipuna Hospice provides specialist medical care for patients living with a life-limiting illness, and support services for them and their families. Hospice specialises in providing palliative care – symptom control and pain management where cure is no longer an option. They also offer support services to patients and their support networks whether this be family/whanau, friends, neighbours, or staff at rest homes and hospital.

Hospice staff (like me) and volunteers care for each person as an individual and take into account the person’s physical, emotional, social, cultural and spiritual needs. In addition to palliative nursing care and specialist medical support, we provide respite care, practical support such as meal preparation, loan equipment, bereavement support and a chaplaincy service.

This year it is expected that we will care for 1000 patients and provide support services for their families. Last year nurses (like me) made more than 14,320 visits and over 20,000 phone calls to patients in the community.

Waipuna Hospice is not funded by government, while some of their services are contracted from the District Health Board. They need to raise $3.7 million in the coming financial year to meet the shortfall in our operating costs. That’s a little over $71,000 per week!