Last week, the Middlemore Critical Care Complex (CCC) held their annual Remembrance Service.
Each year families are invited back to the special Service, run by the CCC (comprised of ICU and HDU) and held in the Middlemore Spiritual Centre, to acknowledge and remember loved ones who passed away in the past year.
In areas like ICU patients can often spend long periods of time, the staff, whaanau and patients can get to know each other, and loss can be felt by all.
This Service enables families to come together with the staff and share stories about their loved ones and grieve collectively.
“It is also a meaningful time for us as staff to reflect and process the grief we witness in our work,” says Kiralee Schache, Health Psychologist, Critical Care Complex.
“Working in the CCC, we witness some great things but also experience a lot more death and suffering than what would be considered ‘normal’ outside of a hospital setting.
“We all have our own ways of acknowledging and dealing with this grief, but the importance of collective recognition is also very powerful.
“I feel grateful to work in a place that recognises and honours the loss we encounter on a regular basis,” says Kiralee.
Pictured above are the posters with the names of everyone who passed away in the CCC over the past two years (names concealed). In front, are flowers placed at the end of the service by whaanau and staff in memory.