EPPING FOREST: Help hospice raise money for its life-changing work (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

EPPING FOREST: Help hospice raise money for its life-changing work

4:47pm Thursday 2nd September 2010 in

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PEOPLE will have a chance to raise money for a hospice's life-changing work with a charity walk in Loughton.

The five-mile Starlight Walk will help fund the services that St Clare hospice in Hastingwood provides, like the occupational therapy that helps patients cope with their terminal illnesses.

Therapist Jane Iskander helps people at the hospice to make the most of their lives and begin to come to terms with their diagnosis by leading art and creative writing groups to help them express their emotional turmoil.

She also helps convert patients' homes so those that want to can return.

“We work towards some kind of acceptance of what's going on for them and the fact that they won't be getting better,” she said. “I think it would be an enormous ask from me that people come to terms with their diagnosis.

“We have a class called Brighter Living, which is about things like managing anxiety and we do a lot of creative activities.”

She said the focus for the outpatient section of the hospice had recently shifted from simply caring for patients to providing therapies and encouraging them to help themselves.

“I'm setting goals for for people for when they get home, which is brilliant,” she said. “Someone I saw today is going to sort herself out some art classes because she hasn't done anything since school and enjoyed the painting she did in a group here. It's a very rewarding job.”

She said that the occupational therapy unit, which costs £108 a day to run, is always in need of money for arts and crafts and other materials for therapies.

“I would like to assess everyone who comes through our doors,” she added. “At the moment, I don't get to do that. I assess people when they're going home from the inpatients unit or they're in day therapy.”

To take part in the Starlight Walk on September 18, call 01279 773750 or visit the hospice's website, www.stclare-hospice.co.uk.

The walk, which will wind its way from Loughton Leisure Centre in Traps Hill to Buckhurst Hill and back, starts with a warm-up routine at 8pm and is open to anyone aged 14 or over.