1979 – “A place where dying has no stigma”

Several people in the local community had a shared belief that end of life care for their patients needed to be improved. A public meeting was held by Joyce Brooks and by December an appeal was launched for £250,000 to fund a hospice for the people of Colchester and Tendring.

1985 – “We wanted to help patients live until their last breath”

We opened the hospice doors to our first patient, 22 year old Lisa, in May 1985. Our ethos was then, and still is now, to look at the patient holistically, and support not just them, but their families and loved ones too.

2015 - Celebrating 30 years of care and looking to the future  

We celebrated 30 years of supporting our community and radio and television presenter Dermot O’Leary became patron.

We launched our vital SinglePoint, 24/7 telephone advice line and care coordination service, providing round the clock support to patients and families often in crisis over the phone and in their homes. My Care Choices Register was also introduced, empowering people to plan ahead and share their choices for future care, helping to reduce the number of people who die in hospital when that is not their wish.   

2020 – You kept us going through the pandemic 

Your incredible generosity and kindness helped ensure local people facing dying, death and bereavement could still receive the care and support they needed, when they needed it, during the toughest of times.

Your unwavering support allowed us to adapt and expand our services to help reduce the pressure on the NHS and care for more people approaching the end of life and grieving the death of a loved one; and we teamed up with Bluebird Care to increase our Virtual Ward support, helping more patients to remain at home, if that is where they want to be, in the last weeks of life.

2022 and beyond 

A gift in your Will could help secure the future of St Helena Hospice for generations, giving hope and comfort to many other people’s stories.

Your support can help create a community where everyone is able to live and die well, with care, compassion and dignity, because everyone deserves that right.