Celebrating 40 Years of Care: Hospice West Auckland's 40th Anniversary

The downstairs of Hospice House in Te Atatū was transformed into He Whare Korowai – Home From Home. The facility has four beds offering 24/7 short-term end-of-life and respite care. Patients are cared for by Registered Nurses and Healthcare Assistants in a comfortable, home-like setting.

Flair, Hospice’s premium Op Shop, opened in Westgate. With a new take on the traditional op shop experience, Flair blends sustainable shopping with luxury appeal, specialising in high-end fashion, accessories, furniture, homewares, art and collectables.  

Pictured:
 – Board Chair Peter Larmer, Clinical Director Celia Palmer and Phil Twyford officially opening He Whare Korowai
 – Unveiling of the He Whare Korowai donor wall
 – Hospice’s premium op shop Flair at Westgate
 – He Whare Korowai official opening (video)

The Rongoā garden, developed in partnership with CHT St Margarets, opened at Hospice House. It features a wide variety of New Zealand native flora, and provides a welcoming space to reconnect with Papatūānuku and feel culturally, physically, spiritually and emotionally strengthened.

Pictured:
 – Dawn blessing and official opening of the Rongoā garden
 – The Rongoā garden
 – Official opening and dawn blessing (video)

The seventh Hospice Op Shop was opened in the heart of Kumeū. 

Pictured:
 – The Kumeū Hospice Op Shop 

A successful new programme called Korowai Care was introduced. Under the programme, the Hospice specialist palliative care team take over patient care from the GP for a short-term period. They provide intensive symptom management to support the patient at home, helping to avoid or delay a hospital or hospice inpatient unit admission.

The Covid pandemic caused new challenges to the way Hospice West Auckland delivered services. Technology continued to play a major role in service delivery, partnering with in-person care to ensure patients and carers were supported regardless of the impact of the pandemic. Video conferencing became a common way of communicating both within the organisation and externally.

Pictured:
 – A specialist nurse providing care and support remotely

The Massey Hospice Op Shop on Don Buck Road opened and quickly became a firm favourite with local op shoppers.

Pictured:
 – The Massey Hospice Op Shop

Hospice West Auckland continued to explore new opportunities in delivering the highest standard of care to the community. This led to the introduction of Virtual Services, where a team of specialist nurses from across New Zealand were available afterhours to deliver advice, support and continuity of care via phone or video conferencing. As well as addressing the national shortage of experienced and qualified specialist nurses, it extended and enhanced the care provided to patients in their own home, surrounded by their loved ones and supported by Hospice’s team of experts.

Pictured:
 – A specialist nurse on the Virtual Services team
 – 24 Hour Support (video)

After relocating twice, the popular Glen Eden Hospice Op Shop opened in the heart of the Glen Eden business district. The premise was expanded in 2022 to allow for a greater range of stock and furniture to be offered. 

Pictured:
 – The Glen Eden Hospice Op Shop

The Helensville Hospice Op Shop shifted to its larger and current location at 36a Mill Road. 

Pictured:
 – The Helensville Hospice Op Shop

New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Right Honourable John Key, officially opened the first two Hospice House inpatient bedrooms in the ‘Kowhai Suite’ in an early morning blessing. Two additional beds were subsequently opened in 2014. Unfortunately an ongoing shortfall in government funding combined with staff shortages saw the Kowhai Suite beds close in 2018. 

Our second and largest superstore opened at 208 Swanson Road, Henderson. It included a dedicated Distribution Centre for receiving and sorting donations and distributing them to the other stores.

Pictured:
 – Sir Graeme Douglas at the ‘Kowhai Suite’ official opening
 – Right Honourable John Key in one of the patient suites
 – The Henderson Hospice Op Shop
 – Hospice House and the Kowhai Suites (video)

The Board’s desire to provide choices for West Aucklanders in the form of inpatient beds saw the start of a refit of Hospice House’s premises to begin creating specialist palliative care inpatient bedrooms.

Pictured:
 – Te mara maumaharatia: the Garden of Memories at Hospice House

Although retail revenue from Hospice Op Shops was already being generated from several small community shops, 2011 marked a new development with the opening of the New Lynn Hospice Op Shop in Delta Ave, our first superstore. The Helensville and Te Atatū stores were also popular community fixtures, with both moving to more permanent and larger locations in due course.

Pictured:
 – The New Lynn Hospice Op Shop superstore at Delta Ave

Beverley Revell received the Queen’s Service Medal for services to the community.

Hospice West Auckland continued to grow, with a new fleet of sponsored cars and commercial vehicles. Community engagement activities at Hospice House flourished, and fundraising initiatives went from strength-to-strength. 

Pictured:
 – Youth cake decorating at Hospice House
 – Farmers donation

Phillip Revell resigned from his position of Chair after twenty years of dedication to Hospice and was replaced by Linda Cooper.

Business leader Sir Graeme Douglas, founder and head of Douglas Pharmaceuticals, was welcomed as Patron.

The Te Atatū purpose-built facility ‘Hospice House’ was officially opened on 3 September 2005. The build was supported by the Portage and Waitakere Licensing Trusts, who each allocated $500,000 towards the build, and the community rallied to help.

Patron Sir Thomas Clark passed away.

Pictured:
 – The Hospice House build
 – Staff and board members
 – Official opening of Hospice House (video)

The Te Atatū Hospice Op Shop opened in its original location at 538 Te Atatū Road.

Pictured:
 – The original Te Atatū Hospice Op Shop

An end of an era for Hospice, with founder Beverley Revell leaving. In a milestone for Hospice care, a government contract was awarded to provide for paid positions, allowing the team of five nurses to transition from volunteer to salary packages.

Pictured:
 – Excerpt from a Hospice brochure showing the region boundary

Sir Tom Clark became the Patron of West Auckland Hospice HomeCare.

Hospice’s second ‘Treasure Trove’ shop opened in the New Lynn Plaza.

Pictured: 
 – Sponsored Hospice vehicle

A partnership was made with West Harbour Gardens Private Hospital for use of one of their beds.

The first Hospice Op Shop ‘Treasure Trove’ opened on Great North Road in Henderson, manned entirely by volunteers. The response was overwhelming, with sales of $2,000 in the first two weeks of trading.

Pictured:
 – The Henderson ‘Treasure Trove’ store opening
 – Hospice cars

A grant was received from ASB to fund much-needed extensions to Hospice House. The opening event featured local MPs and dignitaries including Sir Tom and Lady Clark.

Pictured:
 – Hospice House extensions in progress
 – The Hospice House gardens
 – Official opening of extensions and gardens
 – Sir Tom Clark talks about the extensions and garden development (video)

Following extensive renovations, the property at Woodford Ave became the base for West Auckland Hospice HomeCare.

Hospice services developed quickly, offering day-stay on Wednesdays run by volunteers, with a chaplain and Registered Nurse on hand for advice.

The team expanded to include a secretary, bookkeeper, volunteer coordinator, several ex- and retired nurses, as well as a paid fundraiser.

Pictured:
– Woodford Ave opening celebration
– Beverley Revell with Sir Paul Reeves 
– Christmas day-stay

The Henderson Borough Council donated a house to Hospice which was relocated onto land at Woodford Avenue. The Henderson Rotary Club rallied the community to assist with refurbishing the house. An enormous amount of effort by many people helped to transform a dilapidated cottage into the warm, friendly and welcoming house that it became.

As a local GP himself, Dr Ritchie Gilmour continued to make in-roads with other GPs to encourage referrals, and Hospice began equipping them with information and resources on palliative care.

Pictured:
 – Dr Ritchie Gilmour with one of the first ‘pain pumps’
 – Woodford Ave house relocation and renovation

Beverley Revell was appointed Nurse Coordinator on a part time, voluntary basis, and the Trustee Board formally adopted the title West Auckland Hospice HomeCare. By July the HomeCare Trust began to officially accept patient referrals, and in August Beverley introduced the HomeCare service to Auckland Hospital. Beverley operated the service from the hallway of her home.

Beverley visited every GP in West Auckland to spread the word, and self-referrals were also encouraged.

Pictured:
 – 1987 staff, trustees and volunteers
 – Beverley operating Hospice from the hallway of her home