For International Nurses' Day we hear from a patient about impact nurse had
For International Nurses' Day on Monday 12 May, we heard from a patient about how grateful they were for support they'd received from Hiedi Swift, Respiratory Nurse Specialist - Community Clinic Team Lead at Nottinghamshire Healthcare.
Patient Debbie has been attending the Breathe Easy support group, that Hiedi provides clinical support to, at the John Eastwood Hospice.
Debbie said: Since I have been attending it has opened my world and taken away feelings of being alone with my condition, that I was experiencing. Hiedi has a happy, positive and caring disposition. She has lifted my life.
The Breath Easy Support Group is offered to patients and their carers with COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). The group is supported by Asthma and Lung UK and the aims of the group are to provide mutual support, information about lung disease, friendship, and a safe place to share their stories about living with a lung disease. Breathe Easy has guest speakers who are experts in their area of work. It is supported by Hiedi, a respiratory nurse specialist, who attends each meeting to provide advice, clinical assessments and can direct to other support services if required.
Thanks to the group, Debbie now has friends who she speaks with regularly and they go out for coffee.
Debbie continued: To feel included makes me feel uplifted and I absolutely love the singing and the exercises. When we are having a difficult day Hiedi invites us into the quiet room so that we can discuss our problems and feelings about our health condition. Hiedi has great compassion and uses her experience and initiative to advise and encourage the patient/ person she is listening to. Heid has a natural warmth and empathy and she has a soothing affect which generates a feeling of calmness and relaxation. She is amazing and we do not know what we do without Hiedi and this support group.
Hiedi endeavours to advise, soothe and calm using her experience and natural ability of compassion. She arranges many different activities and informative talks from experienced doctors, specialists, nurses, paramedics etc. This wide spectrum of information also helps the teams of specialists/ consultants, as we give input to them for improvements in care. Hiedi gives hope and comfort, a listening ear, a soothing that makes me feel safe and after each group session I go home feeling so much happier than I did before I walked in.
I no longer feel like a lung disease is taking over me as a person. I feel like a person living with a lung disease. That feels absolutely fantastic. Thank you for employing nurses like Hiedi.
The group have an allocated quiet place to sit if anyone is struggling and they are given the time to talk to a health care professional about any worries they have. They are actively involved in research and how to improve respiratory services. They are currently raising funds to purchase a piece of equipment for Kingsmill Hospital to be used by the respiratory team to improve the care of respiratory patients.
Amy Eagle, Care Group Director - Community and Specialist Health Services at Nottinghamshire Healthcare said: "It is fantastic to hear such positive feedback about Hiedi and the support group she provides clinical support to. She is clearly passionate about providing the best possible care to our patients, and it is brilliant to hear what a difference she's making to Debbie's life".
Last year the group organised a day out which gave members an opportunity to enjoy a day out who would not normally have access to this.
The group meets on the first Monday of every month 1:30 - 3:00 at John Eastwood Hospice in the Living Well Centre. There is no referral required to join. All members turn up and receive a warm welcome. If necessary, the members can access other support groups offered by the hospice (after assessment for suitability).
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