A 'privilege' to help care for terminally ill, says Irish Cancer Society nurse
Hilary Gough enters houses late at night to spend final precious hours with dying patients.
The night nurse with the Irish Cancer Society said that caring for the terminally ill in their homes and supporting their families at a terribly difficult time is “a privilege”.
Night nurses tended to terminally ill patients 9,000 nights last year, with 7,500 of these dedicated to cancer patients.
But the service has seen a 20% increase in demand since the coronavirus hit with Irish Cancer Society night nurses providing more than 1,000 nights of care in the weeks since the outbreak.
And while demand has increased, the number of available nurses has fallen sharply as hospitals, nursing homes or quarantine pull them away from the night nurse service.
Mrs Gough is 100% committed to staying with her job.
“Anyone who does this jobs loves it," she said. "You come away every day knowing that you’ve achieved something. I’ve done the job for 24 years. People are so grateful to be at home.
"More people are choosing to die at home now. They can go by their own timetable and spend as much time as they want with family members. Visiting is limited at hospitals and hospices at the moment.
“It’s a tough time for families anyway but especially at the moment. Everything is so strange," she said.
Ms Gough works with the public health nurse, the homecare team, and the hospice, but she is the only non-family medic in the house at night throughout her shifts from 11pm to 7am. That time gives conscious patients space to ask questions about death which they may not want to mention in front of family.
Covid-19 has changed how people die in Ireland. The virus has been “chipping away" at some of the traditions that get people through these times but people are being resourceful, she said.
"The social isolation of families is the hardest thing.
“Before, you’d have to park your car way down the road because so many people would be there visiting and the tables would be full of food. Irish people are very supportive when someone is dying.
“So now people are struggling because everyone cannot be around.
One 93-year-old woman recently asked me ‘what are we going to do about my funeral? It would have been huge! Everyone knows me!’ Her daughter fell on the bed laughing.
“But people are being inventive. Her grandchildren and great grandchildren come and wave in the window to her and they bought extra garden furniture so they can sit outside and get cups of tea passed through the window.
“And she’s happy do die. She said that she’s had a good life and she’s ready. She’s just been surprised that it’s taking so long."
But other patients have been badly impacted by the travel and social distancing restrictions, she said.
“A young lady, she was 44, was back in her family home in rural Ireland and away from where she had built her life in the city.
"She was extremely well known in the city, she was in the choir, she worked, she had neighbours and friends but no one could come to see her at the end when her life was cut short by a diagnosis that everyone fears.
“By the time she was diagnosed with cancer it was well advanced. She never went back to work after her diagnosis, she tried every treatment and trial she could.
"She was diagnosed in September last year and died in March. She was a really gorgeous girl. She was determined to live and she didn’t get a lot of time to prepare to die.
“But when her coffin was brought through town people stood out with candles and pictures and clapped. So there was this sense that the community was with them even though they couldn’t be there physically."
But for other patients, the lockdown has brought some benefits, allowing families to gather together at home and spend every day with a loved-one in their final weeks of life.
"One 59-year-old mother has all her eight children, aged 18-34, home with her. At night they sit around her with a drink and have family quizzes, or have a sing-song or share what they baked that day.
“There’s a sense of fun in that house. They’re delighted that they’re home from Dublin, the UK, Europe, to all be with her for what time she has left. And they’ll all get to be around her bed when she dies."
To apply to be a night nurse with the Irish Cancer Society, go to www.cancer.ie/jobs or email recruitment@irishcancer.ie.
To donate, go to on www.cancer.ie or phone 1850 60 60 60 or +353 (0)1 231 0500.
