ellenor has received a grant of £100,00 from Wards to be invested over a two year period to support its work caring for local families living with life limiting conditions in the North Kent area and help fund an extension to the hospice building in Northfleet.
The proposed extension will incorporate a new, modern Wellbeing Centre to provide and expand outpatient services and serve as a facility for training and education on palliative and end of life care.
Wards has been a long-term supporter of ellenor, especially of its care for babies and children and their families. This year they are also funding a children’s nurse for the charity.
Former Group Managing Director David Lench said: “Wards have supported ellenor over many years and will continue where it can. We want to support children who are either mentally or physically disabled. ellenor is dealing with children who have life limiting illness, so it all fits together very well.
“We started the charitable side of our business 15 to 20 years ago and we chose children because all the directors felt lucky and blessed to have healthy children when we knew there were other families facing such dreadful situations. We were recognising our own good fortune and recognising those less fortunate.”
In the past Wards gave ellenor nurses office space in its Tonbridge branch, so they could be closer to patients in West Kent, and the firm provided nurses with yellow Volkswagen Beetles to get to their appointments out and about in the community.
ellenor’s new Wellbeing Centre will mean a vast improvement to its outpatient facilities, creating extra space for play therapy, counselling and a range of other activities from seated exercise to gardening. There will also be quiet space where patients and their families can relax and spend special time together.
