Give £10 and run one bed for a year!

You may guess that this is not entirely true!

Of course, a single donation of £10 would not cover the cost of running a bed at St Michael's Hospice for a year.  However, if everyone who reads this, and our newsletter, made a donation of £10 we would go a long way to covering the annual running cost of one bed in our in-patient unit which is £93,000.

On average it costs the Hospice £7,750 to keep one acute bed in service each month; this figure includes the cost of nurses, medical resources and all other necessary overheads - such as light, heat and food.  When broken down further it costs £255 per bed, each and every day, to provide our specialised palliative care to the communities of Hastings & Rother.  There is absolutely no chargee to any of our patients, one of whom recently wrote the following letter to the Hastings Observer;

"I am lying here in bed being looked after by a host of angels at the Hospice.  We must never let this superb place go and I am trying to think of ways to help keep it afloat.  The dedication knows no bounds and it is so important to have such loving care and attendance .... what can one do to support such a wonderful place where all is done to heal the sick?"  (published as a letter in the Hastings Observer May 2009)

You will have read in previous editions of this newsletter that we, like numerous other Hospices across the country, are experiencing hard times at present but are doing all that we can to ensure that St Michael's remains a constant presence within Hastings & Rother, offering the same level of service to local people.

Please do consider making a donation of just £10 towards the cost of running one of our acute in-patient beds for a year.  Thank you very much in advance for your ongoing support of St Michael's - your local Hospice.