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Waverley Care is Scotland’s leading HIV and hepatitis C charity. Everything we do is guided by the experiences of the people we work with, from shaping the services we deliver to influencing national policy around sexual health and blood borne viruses.

It is important for us at the Hospice that the environment for our patients and their families is the best it can possibly be. We know that gardens are intimately connected to our health and well-being across the life-course. This does not change with end-of-life care. Our plan is to create a large vegetable garden, visible from our Day Services unit. We need to clear a large area of ground, include some raised beds, bring in some good quality soil and create a clear pathway from the main Hospice building. The work will involve the use of a digger to create the initial area and pathway. We will then plant a selection of vegetables which in time will produce a lovely selection of vegetables for use in the Hospice kitchen. Patients, staff and families will benefit from freshly picked potatoes, beans courgettes, herbs, onions, leeks and cabbages. Our physiotherapy team in our Day Therapies service will encourage the patients to become involved in the seeding, planting and growing of the vegetables. It will be a wonderful way to include our patients in a healthy, rewarding , outdoor pursuit as well as providing healthy produce for our meals. It will be a therapeutic activity in itself, offering a sense of achievement along with a connection with nature and a chance to work alongside others. It will also save the Hospice a considerable amount of money in the long run which is wonderful.

Getting pregnant and having a baby should be a time filled with excitement and joy, thinking ahead to the new chapter in your life. However, for so many families, the reality is very different, with 15 babies a day dying in the UK, either before, during or shortly after birth. At SANDS Lothians, we are there for those families, whose dreams have been so cruelly shattered. We provide compassionate care for families in the local community with specialist bereavement support, including befriending and counselling. The majority of our team are bereaved parents themselves, so have also walked that journey and can help reassure families so they know that they are not alone. For families, the loss of their precious baby is devastating and isolating, especially when parents return home from the hospital. Before they leave the hospital, families are given our memory bag. In the bag there is a photo album, memory stick, a candle, a notebook, a heart key ring (with a part that stays with the baby) and details about our support. These bags give parents memories to cherish of their precious little one, as well as offering a lifeline with information about how we can help. Each bag costs £22 and we are looking to raise enough funds to buy a further 100 bags to make sure that we can continue to provide this service in hospitals in Edinburgh and the Lothians. As a small, independent charity, we are reliant on kind donations and grants to ensure that we can be there for these families now and in the future. Thank you xx