Simply Strathcarron

I was a wee bit overwhelmed at the hospice this afternoon. Actually, I was a big bit overwhelmed at the hospice this afternoon. The last day of my funded placement was a couple of weeks ago, but today was my proper ‘Right, that’s me done now’ day. Except, I’m not really done as I’m continuing as a volunteer and am on the hunt for more funding – but, it was the day that I gave the last of the overview presentations to staff, so it was, sort of, like my proper last day.

I arrived at Strathcarron with a heavy heart as I’d recently been told that one of the hospice’s very special patients had died. Every patient at Strathcarron is special – that’s one of the things I love about the place – but it can be particularly difficult for hospice staff when the patient who’s died is someone who was well known and well loved long before they ever became a patient. For that reason, I had very mixed feelings about standing up in front of the staff to talk animatedly about how successful my little music project had been. Part of me just felt it somehow wasn’t appropriate to do that today but, after giving it some thought - and after considering how much this particular patient had benefitted from music during their stay in the hospice, and how much their family had encouraged and supported me (through their positive comments and willingness to appear on my feedback video), and how much this patient had wanted other patients to benefit in the same way as they had (by buying their own MP3 player so that they weren’t ‘depriving’ some other patient), and how many times during our wee chats that this particular patient’s sense of humour and sense of humility had bowled me over – I came to the tentative conclusion that me talking today about something that they’d gained some pleasure from during their illness was something that they would hopefully have approved of. 

So, talk I did. And I’m glad I did. The staff couldn’t have been more effusive in their support and in their agreement that basic music therapy should continue to have a place in the care package offered at Strathcarron. It was, understandably, a much more emotional affair than the last overview presentation, but I still think it was the right decision to go ahead with it. 

To top it all, my lovely boss Kirsty stood up at the end and said some really nice things. Then, the rest of the Patient and Family Support Team – my colleagues for the past 4 months – stood up and presented me with a bunch of really special gifts.  The very best pressies are always the ones that have been bought, or made, with a very personal touch and each of these gifts had the personal touch by the bucket load: a beautiful bunch of bright flowers; a personalised mug with ‘Strathcarron Myriad of Music Thank You Jane’ inscribed on it, an absolutely delicious cake (baked by the lovely Jenny) with ‘Thank You for the Music’ iced on top; and a CD. But not just any old CD; a ‘mixed tape’ CD made up of tracks chosen for me by every department in the hospice. There I go again, welling up every time I think about it all. Aw man, I had the CD belting out all the home way home in the car – I love it. It includes tracks such as ‘ Shine’ chosen by the Domestic Team; ‘Sunshine Girl’ chosen by the OT; ‘I’ve Got the Music in Me’ by Cara, one of my team members; ‘Thank You For The Music’ by the Management Team and ‘Sing’ – my favourite and even more special as it was chosen by Kirsty, my amazing manager. That’s me off again..... I felt sad at times today, but what made me feel great was being reminded of the simple thing that's made working alongside such a lovely, lovely bunch of people for the past 4 months so special. They care – all of them – on a very personal level. And what better gift is there to give...?