Saddened to hear of the loss of a caring and compassionate human being, nurse and colleague. Fond memories of GD ward in the 90’s, and since then, in various roles. Over more recent years, you invested so much time and energy in developing your doctoral study around ‘compassion’ and in particular, compassion within mental health care, with an emphasis on staff ? As one of your doctoral supervisors, will you still be thinking of supervision and those days/meetings/ when, delayed because you cared, i would get a message on my mobile ‘i am on my way’. You would arrive at the University with heavily laden bags of literature you had found over the previous weeks. I used to nudge you for two issues ‘mind your back’ and arrange supervision. Then laptop computers came along and the travel became easier. I only wish we had discussed what you would like to do the the data you collected around ‘compassion’ – you were passionate about gaining a better understanding of compassion and how you could influence others in developing a more compassionate way of working. Covid19 disturbed your studies and i wonder if Covid has not happened, would we had our day walking down the procession with your doctoral gown. You, and your family and friends would have been so proud. Your research study is a loss.
An aspect of your approach to work, Francis, in the 30 years i have known you, was ‘you never, ever, ever, had a day off sick from work. When i heard you were off sick from work, we arranged catch up ‘gossip’ sessions. How we sorted the world and its problems and i got to know you in a different way? The books you were reading to ward off boredom, the TV programme you were watching in the middle of the day, (this opened up a new world for you), the strategies you were learning to keep mobile and the sporting events of the world. As a human being, I learnt so much from your reflective discussions about being the ‘recipient of care’, those home visitors , were you involved in arranging the visit times and those providers of care who would not turn up on time. You wanted the health care students, that i was involved with, to learn from your experiences and you looked forward to the day when you would facilitate another lecture around compassion with the students.
I note from your photograph, your favourite white board has got the problems and solutions which you loved working with.
By the way, i sent you a text early on this week saying it was time for a catch up, and, who knows, the internet connection could be amazing where you are ……so sad my friend, that the opportunity will not arise.
Take care, friend, fellow nurse, committee member, community/inpatient challenger, job applicant, student placement problem solver, and finally superisor, John