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Friend not foe Recording stories two
Supporting meaningful outcome-focussed recording
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in social care
Recording stories two Helen and the Heron
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Recording outcomes at the end of life
This is the second of two personal story videos
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in a series to support the written resource
Friend not foe.
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The resource was produced to support meaningful
outcome-focussed recording.
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This is Helen’s story, titled “Helen and
the Heron”.
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Like Fran’s story in our other video, Helen’s
story supports the principle of outcome-focussed
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recording from cradle to grave.
While Fran’s story is about accessing his
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records from birth, Helen’s story is about
recording outcomes at the end of life.
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The Hospice Movement teaches us about what
matters at the end of life, as summed up by
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Cecily Saunders, the founder of the movement:
“You matter because you are you, and you
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matter to the end of your life. We will do
all we can not only to help you die peacefully,
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but also to live until you die.”
Hope can still be a part of the end of life
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and people often want to keep doing things
for themselves and set goals to maintain their
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quality of life.
Listening to and recording what people want
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to achieve and what will make life meaningful
is as important as ever.
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Helen, who is in her seventies, has had cancer
for three years.
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She knew it was incurable at the time of diagnosis,
and her main outcome has been to remain living
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at home as long as possible and to have her
husband and daughter around.
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This is what was recorded about Helen’s
wishes, which has been agreed with her family
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and which the professionals who are supporting
her understand as important too.
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“Despite her advancing cancer, Helen wants
to continue to walk to the river every day
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with her partner and her daughter Rhian, as
long as this is possible. She always looks
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out for the heron which she sees as a good
omen for her family.”
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The background to what is recorded is that
Helen is finding walking more tiring due
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to her cancer and she knows that walking will
not be possible for much longer.
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She has found meaning in these walks and her
family plans to take her to the river in the
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car when walking is no longer an option.
They have also found a photograph of the heron
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for when Helen can’t get to the river.
This helps the family support Helen and accept
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her condition.
We might think about outcomes for the family
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members who are caring for Helen at the end
of her life.
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We know that Helen’s daughter wanted to
spend time being close to her mum until the
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end of her life and that finding shared meaning
and hope through watching the heron was comforting
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to her as well as to her mum.
Having a shared record helps everyone involved
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to understand priorities at every stage of
life.
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It doesn’t need to be lengthy to tell us
a lot about what matters.