When Leigh talks about her mum and best friend, Rosina, with love and admiration, one thing is clear: Rosina was proud of what she did, and she wore that pride quite literally on her jacket.
Rosina completed Hospice’s Fundamentals of Palliative Care course in 2015, when she was 75 years old. It wasn’t something she had to do. She chose to do it, motivated by a love for learning and a genuine desire to learn more about caring for others with compassion, dignity and understanding.
“She wouldn’t have done it if it didn’t matter to her,” Leigh says. “If Mum put the effort in, it was because she believed in it.”
Learning for Life
Rosina was a lifelong worker and learner. Over the years she held many roles, including more than two decades as a caregiver and house mother at Hōhepa Homes in Hawkes Bay, supporting people to live as independently as possible within a caring community. Even in her later years, she continued to seek out ways to grow her knowledge and skills.
The Fundamentals of Palliative Care course, which covers communication, pain and symptom management, grief and loss, cultural care, dementia, chronic illness and the last days of life, was a significant commitment.
Completing the ten learning modules earned Rosina a certificate and a small badge, which was incredibly meaningful to her. She placed the badge on the jacket that she wore everywhere, among other beautiful keepsakes: her Grandmother’s cameo brooch, a pin from Hastings’ 150 year celebrations, her Uncle’s war medals, her Girl Guides badge, and a badge proudly hand-painted by one of her sons.
“She never went out without the jacket, whatever the weather was like,” Leigh recalls. “She’d put the jacket on before she left the house, and when she came home, she’d hang it back in the same place. It was just part of her.”
When Something Precious is Lost
One day, the Hospice Fundamentals of Palliative Care badge came loose and disappeared. Leigh and her mum searched everywhere – the garden, the car, anywhere it might have fallen but with no luck. Rosina never stopped thinking about it.
“Every time we went past Hospice, she’d ask about it,” Leigh says. “It really stayed with her. She’d worked hard to earn that badge.”
After Rosina passed away, Leigh found herself still searching, not just for the badge, but for a way to complete something that felt unfinished. When Hospice was able to replace the badge, it was a wonderful moment of connection and closure.
“When I got the email saying you’d found one, I just cried,” Leigh says. “I was sad she didn’t get it back while she was here, but I know she knows. It completed something.”
More Than a Badge
For Leigh, replacing the badge wasn’t just about an object. It was about acknowledging her mum’s commitment, her values, and the quiet pride she carried.
“Looking back, I didn’t realise what Mum went through to earn it,” she says. “Now I’m even more proud of her. She did that learning because she wanted to be better for the people she cared for.”
Rosina’s jacket, adorned with badges collected over a lifetime, tells a story of service, resilience and love. The Hospice badge will sit among them once again as a symbol of compassion, learning, and care at every stage of life.
And now, for Leigh, that story feels whole again.
