by Rose Rushe
MILFORD Hospice Harvest Fair takes place at UL Sports Arena and circuit track on Sunday August 31, the 29th such fundraiser to take place annually and set to be a humdinger of happiness.
Chief executive of the centre and its 350 employees, Pat Quinlan, forecast to Limerick Post that “2014 will be our biggest fair yet and will probably have the highest numbers attending. Each year it brings a lot of people from various counties in the Mid West and that element of PR alone concerning the hospice is a good thing”.
He made this point at the media launch on site on Plassey campus. The hospice needs all the attention and funding possible with a 38 per cent rise in patients since last year cited, and cuts in core funding by 11 to 12 per cent.
“We are trying to maintain the quality of service that we supply, and this is why fundraising is so important,” the CEO underlines. “Traditionally Milford Hospice was focused on cancer care but 30 per cent of our patients have non-malignant conditions. Palliative care needs to respond to whatever their condition is. [The Mid West] has the least number of patients dying in acute hospitals.
“That number is 40 per cent nationally and we have less than 10 per cent in the Mid West. A quarter of our patents come from Clare, another 22 per cent from Tipperary, the rest are from city and county Limerick and there’s another 2 to 3 per cent from other places in the surrounds such as Charleville”.
A hospice and palliative care centre of the people, for the people is made possible through occasions such as Sunday 31 and the public support that Harvest Fair attracts.
