Dying Matters Week - At MHA you're never forgotten

 Working with older people in our care and nursing homes means we are privileged to provide the best support we can as residents near the end of their lives.

Like our care staff, our chaplains who work in all our homes and retirement living schemes are trained to support residents and families at end of life and our The Final Lap programme has won an award for its compassionate and supportive approach.

The aim of The Final Lap is to make sure that our homes are places where dying and death are faced openly and positively, with support. It is to explore what this might mean for the homes, for residents and their families, but also for our staff and volunteers.

Our chaplains and care staff make sure the subject is approached sensitively, discovering what an individual’s wishes are, what the family would like. Our homes make sure those final wishes are carried out, whether it’s having favourite music played in their room or making sure they receive any prayers or ritual support sacraments aligned to their faith.

But what happens after we sadly lose a member of our care and nursing home community?

At MHA we can truly say that our residents who have died are not forgotten.

Each year our chaplains hold a Service of Remembrance in our homes and retirement living scheme, often around All Souls Day in November.

Relatives and friends are invited to the service to remember their loved one who has died in the previous year. And people whose relatives might have died a few years ago still find comfort in attending this annual remembrance service.

It is a time to celebrate the lives of people who have died and to remember their contribution to not only the life of the home but also how they touched the lives of others throughout their years.