For Cranford Hospice and Clinical Nurse Specialist Diane Reid, making a difference in the lives of people and their families who are facing a life-limiting condition is what is most important.
Now in her 25th year at the palliative care provider, Mrs Reid has seen a lot of changes - from her days on night duty to working within the community and now where she oversees the clinical work of the nurses as well as providing patient/whanau care.
"It's cliche but you can make a difference to the people who are referred to us. You have to acknowledge their individual situation and you've got the time and ability to assess what they need and what they want - that's important."
"In that time you help them. There's a lot of fear of the unknown for the patients and their families and because you have experience you can generally really pick up what they think is most important to them and that is different for each person.
She said there was "no such thing as a normal day".
"Sometimes you see two patients in a day and that is a full day. Most nurses do 4-6 visits a day and also telephone consultations, depending on what they find and need to respond to"
Although some hospitals around the country did have palliative care teams, she said a hospice was a much more specialised setting dealing with people's needs.
"It is a different focus, really. The hospice has the ability to look at the whole person and family and whanau."
Being able to respond to individual people, being part of a team and making therapeutic connections with people and their families were some of the rewards of the job for her.
"The generous ongoing support from the community is also hugely affirming of our work and is greatly appreciated by the staff. "
Despite sometimes feeling " overwhelmed" with increasing numbers of referrals, more complex situations and the sadness and loss that people were going through, they were a professional team who supported each other to do the best for the patients.
Cranford Hospice started in Hawke's Bay in 1982 with a handful of volunteers and now has 85 paid staff, 400 volunteers, and every year cares for about 750 patients and their families.
For 35 years, the current building had been added on to and it was time for a change - although it would be sad, Mrs Reid said.
A lot of people in Hawke's Bay had a connection with the building.
"It's will be great to have a purpose-built facility. Chesterhope is an amazing site and it has history anyway with the gardens and trees. There is a huge amount of work we're looking at before moving there.
"There has always been an issue with hospice serving Hawke's Bay but actually being in Hastings. The good thing with this site is that it is halfway to Napier and Hastings."
She said the nurses had a long wish list of what they would like included in the new building and there was already lots of consultation happening.
"Good palliative care is important right across the community. It would be good to have it seen as everyone's business."
