Every year since 2004, Wellington Airport and the five local Councils come together for the awards to recognise outstanding mahi and celebrate hundreds of volunteers for their valuable contribution to the community.

This year's five categories covered contributions to Arts and Culture, Education and Child/Youth Development, Health and Wellbeing, Heritage and Environment, Sport and Leisure, and the Rising Star Award, with Mary Potter Hospice winning both the Health and Wellbeing category and overall Supreme Award.

It was established in 1979 in Newtown by the Little Company of Mary Catholic Sisters, with a commitment to make hospice services available to all patients.

In 1988, Mary Potter Hospice was gifted to the people of Wellington as an independent non-sectarian charitable trust, the Mary Potter Hospice Foundation. Read more

It was established by the Little Company of Mary to provide free-of-charge palliative care to the people of Wellington, Porirua and Kapiti.

Sister Margaret Lancaster, pictured above, helped establish Mary Potter Hospice 40 years ago. She remains a board member today.

She says setting up such a service wasn't without its challenges, with people's idea of dealing with dying to simply "put them in the corridor" or "out in the ground" and not talk about it.

The hospice began at Calvary Hospital in Wellington.

In 1988 the Little Company of Mary sold Calvary Hospital and gifted the Mary Potter Hospice to the people of Wellington as an independent non-sectarian charitable trust, the Mary Potter Foundation.

As part of the sale, the Sisters negotiated access to the hospital gardens and bought five houses on Florence Street.

However, there was little room for parking or further development, and some felt it was too close to the private hospital.

Fortunately, Ruth Gotlieb, a then-city councillor, found an "ideal site" in Mein St - a poorly used council park across the road from the hospital.

The sisters organised a land exchange with Wellington City Council to get the Mein St site. Construction on the new hospice started in December 1989 and it was officially opened in 1990.

Today services include the Inpatient Unit in Newtown and Day Hospices in Porirua and Kapiti.

Maintaining a community focus, Hospice services are provided wherever people are - at home, in aged care or in the Inpatient Unit in Newtown. Volunteers remain essential to the life and vibrancy of all Hospice services and connect the Hospice back to communities.

Source

• stuff.co.nz
• marypotter.org.nz
• Image: stuff.co.nz

As well as feeling proud that these young women were choosing to fill their free time with such worthy pursuits, the sight of the "hospice" logo brought back some very vivid memories for me.

Some years ago now, my gentle loving mother-in-law was told she had motor neurone disease. This has to be one of the cruellest diseases in the world.

Gradual loss of all motor ability, including movement, speech and eventually swallowing and breathing, yet retention of mental and cognitive faculties - I suspect it is a deeply frightening journey to be going through, and I fervently hope scientists around the world are making progress towards an eventual cure.

Until then, I had no idea that patients with illnesses like this could even access the hospice service, let alone be offered such a wide range of support - I had always assumed that the hospice only catered for people with cancer, at the very end of their life.

Over the years that followed, as my mother-in-law's health declined, the local hospice played a hugely important role in her care.

They offered a regular place of respite - very aptly named, as it does indeed provide relief for not only the patient but their caregivers too.

During these respite stays, the skilled hospice team could reassess her needs, adjust medications, and offer the kind of holistic care that is difficult for families to provide at home.

Arts and craft sessions, massages for tired limbs and achy muscles, and sympathetic counselling when required are just some of the benefits we saw during her visits there.

The fact that families, and especially grandchildren, were welcome there made it a place surprisingly full of life and vitality, and often laughter amidst the grief. Continue reading

• Dr Cathy Stephenson is a GP and forensic medical examiner.