Z donation helps fuel Hospice

"Hospice Taranaki were thrilled to be told we'd been selected as a charity to benefit from the Good in the Hood promotion with Z Stratford," says marketing and promotions spokesperson Rose Whitaker.

"It is wonderfully generous of Z to make this money available to charities, with fantastic community involvement in the process."

Hospice Taranaki are one of four organisations in Stratford to receive a financial boost in this year's Z Petrol Good In The Hood promotion.

Rose says Hospice Taranaki are fortunate to have a lot of great volunteers in Stratford and many of them were happy to be involved at Z spending time on the forecourt speaking to the public.

"It was a great idea of Z's to permit and encourage us to talk directly with the voters.

This was an opportunity to let customers know of the impact of their decision when voting for us".

Hospice Taranaki provide palliative care services including, impatient care, wellness clinics, community care, symptom management, respite care, end of life care, equipment provision, social work, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, bereavement support, counselling, day programme, biography service, remembrance service, carer support, education and volunteer support.

Rose says the organisation was prompted to apply to be part of Good In The Hood as there are two hospice nurses based in Stratford who care for patients in the Central Taranaki.

On average there are 18 patients and their family/whanau in this area receiving hospice palliative care and Rose says sadly the number of patients is growing.

While approximately 50 per cent of the organisations operating costs are funded by the Taranaki District Health Board, the outstanding balance of 1.8 million dollars for this financial year needs to be raised from the community. "The financial boost from Z Stratford will be a big help towards these operating costs."