Valda Brechmanis accepted a cheque for Hospice Whanganui from Mitre 10's Sarah and Hayden Gibson and Paula Fore in 2019. Photo / Bevan Conley
Valda Brechmanis accepted a cheque for Hospice Whanganui from Mitre 10's Sarah and Hayden Gibson and Paula Fore in 2019. Photo / Bevan Conley
Today we continue our Whanganui Chronicle Person of the Year 2021 series.
Earlier in the month we put the call out to our readers for nominations and from an impressive pool we've chosen two runners-up and a winner. The winner will be revealed on Saturday.
The first runner-up was EddieTofa and now, the second runner-up can be revealed as Valda Brechmanis. Laurel Stowell reports.
Valda Brechmanis has just the right personality to help people who are going through sad and traumatic times, Teresa Pfeffer says.
"She has such an outgoing, lovable personality that you can't help but feel relaxed, no matter what you are going through emotionally with your loved one."
Valda Brechmanis worked at Hospice Whanganui for nearly 17 years, in a variety of roles. Photo / Supplied
Pfeffer kept in touch with Brechmanis after that through donations to hospice. She said working there must be tough, because there are no happy endings. People who do it deserve recognition.
"We are only one family out of dozens that owe their thanks and gratitude to Valda."
Brechmanis appreciated being nominated by Pfeffer but said she was "not remotely interested in self promotion" for the work she has done.
"The work for me, from the time I first interviewed for the job, almost 17 years ago, was to do something that would perhaps make a difference in people's lives, at a time when they are incredibly vulnerable."
Those differences, if they happened, are personal to those for whom they happened, she said, which is why the nomination means something.
Brechmanis has been a massage therapist, has owned her own business and trained as a chef. But she said the extraordinary care her father received at hospice changed everything for her.
"It changed my perspective on death and dying, and I wanted to be a part of what it was to deliver that service."
She volunteered at hospice for six months as a weekend cook. In 2005 two jobs came up there, and she applied for, and got, both of them.
One was cooking, and the other was managing volunteers. She cooked for five years, and valued the chance to meet people's special needs.
"I remember serving a meal to someone in an egg cup, because that's all he could eat. It was a silver egg cup, with a napkin under it and silver cutlery, and he ate every bit of it."
When somebody needs something from you and you care enough to pay attention and meet their need, it's very rewarding, she said.
"Nuggets like that are priceless. You can't buy those, and there were many things like that during the course of my work that I was privileged to be part of."
Her job description changed over 16 and a half years at hospice and various restructurings. She dealt with public relations, and event co-ordination as well as cooking and managing volunteers.
There was lots of variety and lots of opportunity to be with people.
"That was one of the special things about the job - connecting with people in a way that they needed at a time when they were incredibly vulnerable and everything in their life had changed," she said.
She heard people's stories, and a little bit about their grief, if they wanted to share it. She enjoyed organising events like the bereavement support morning teas held three or four months after a death, for those left behind.
Brechmanis moved to part-time work at hospice in March 2021, and she resigned in August. She misses the work, and is not sure what's next for her.
"I don't even know how to coach the skills that people think I have. I could have a crack at just about anything," she said.
