I thought I would say hello to my second family, the volunteers of Roxburghe House in Aberdeen. A Specialist Palliative Care Unit in NHS Grampian.
I thank you for your gift of time, in this, what is just a silly rhyme.
Your role so dramatically suspended leaving us all feeling up ended.
To you we said, ‘Be safe, stay home’ to Roxburghe House you cannot roam.
Things changed quickly for us here, ignoring the feelings we had of fear.
We had to move quickly without delay and to forget there had ever been another way.
Families were here then suddenly they went, instead clean clothes & messages in were sent.
Staff colleagues had to work from home, coffee bar now empty but for the sound of the phone.
Our days are different there is no denial, if only I could fast forward by touching a dial
to a time we’re back together as a team, to hug one another and whisper gently, ‘how have you been’?
We will chatter and laugh and there will be tears, because this separation has brought with it many fears.
I look around where you once took much care, no flowers no tables, the car park now bare.
I miss your faces, the laughs and the cheer, remembering these things really does keep you near.
But looking ahead is what I must do and to every one of you, you must do that too.
So enjoy the colour and noise mother nature is bringing; the full blossom trees and the way birds are singing.
For now we stay distanced and apart but I want you to know you are still part of Roxburghe’s heart.
Every Thursday evening please take a bow, as I clap for YOU, the heroes that stay home, for now.
Mandy Urquhart
Voluntary Service Manager
Roxburghe House