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Denise Whiffin

Denise Whiffen

Areas of Interest

Health Care, Campaigner

Honorary Award

Honorary Doctor of Health Sciences, 2013

Biography

For over ten years, Denise Whiffin has worked tirelessly to create the region's first-ever hospice service for 16-40 year olds. Today, The J's Hospice operates across Essex and beyond, providing respite care, home services and life improvements for this age group.

Denise had the best, but most tragic, inspiration for setting up the hospice. Her son Jonathan was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy at the age of three, and used children's hospices from the age of 14 until his death, aged just 18, in 2002.

Denise began working on the idea for a young adult's hospice service in 2003, and in 2010 the J's at Home service was launched. It provides specialist care, in the comfort and security of their own homes, for young people with life-limiting conditions including Cancer, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, Juvenile Huntington's Disease and many more. Many of these complex conditions lead to severe disability, and at J's Hospice it is the trustees' wish that young adults are helped to live the best possible quality of life, as independently as they can, in the knowledge that they and their family are receiving the best possible support.

One of the underlying principles of J's Hospice is that good care and symptom control can help to prevent emergency hospital admissions, which can be extremely distressing for the young person and their family. The vision is to build the first dedicated young adult hospice in the East of England which will also provide day-care facilities and access to therapies. Working to achieve this ambition is a board of trustees and a growing clinical team including a director of nursing, clinical nurse specialists, healthcare assistants and administrative staff. Together, they support more than 60 young adults and their families across Essex.



Citation

Vice Chancellor, it is my pleasure to read the citation for Denise Whiffin for the award of Doctor of Health Sciences, honoris causa.

For over ten years, Denise Whiffin has worked tirelessly to create the region's first-ever hospice service for 16-40 year olds. Today, The J's Hospice operates across Essex and beyond, providing respite care, home services and life improvements for this age group.

Denise had the best, but most tragic, inspiration for setting up the hospice. Her son Jonathan was diagnosed with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy at the age of three, and used children's hospices from the age of 14 until his death, aged just 18, in 2002.

Denise became acutely conscious that there were no hospice or respite-care services available to Jonathan in this area that could bridge the gap between children's and adult services. In fact, there was only one hospice in the United Kingdom that could offer this, and it only had seven beds! This meant that, for Jonathan and countless young people like him, the hospice environment and the services offered were not geared to the emotions, interests and specialist needs of very young adults. Young people need to be with other young people even, and especially, when severely physically challenged or ill.

Denise began working on the idea for a young adult's hospice service in 2003, and in 2010 the J's at Home service was launched. It provides specialist care, in the comfort and security of their own homes, for young people with life-limiting conditions including cancer, Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy, juvenile Huntington's disease and many more. Many of these complex conditions lead to severe disability, and at J's Hospice it is the trustees' wish that young adults are helped to live the best possible quality of life, as independently as they can, in the knowledge that they and their family are receiving the best possible support.

One of the underlying principles of J's Hospice is that good care and symptom control can help to prevent emergency hospital admissions, which can be extremely distressing for the young person and their family. The vision is to build the first dedicated young adult hospice in the East of England which will also provide day-care facilities and access to therapies. Working to achieve this ambition is a board of trustees and a growing clinical team including a director of nursing, clinical nurse specialists, healthcare assistants and administrative staff. Together, they support more than 60 young adults and their families across Essex.

Services provided by the hospice include nursing and end-of-life care, psycho-social care and bereavement support. There are holistic, specialist, palliative and respite-care services plus counselling, chaplaincy, music therapy and a range of complementary therapies including massage and reflexology. The J's Young Adult Group allows these people some time away from carers to socialise with others their own age, whilst enabling their parents to have some quality time together.

Last year, Anglia Ruskin University hosted a car show in partnership with The J's Hospice, featuring over 200 classic and sports cars - including the Trotter's Independent Trading Reliant Robin from Only Fools And Horses. The show also welcomed over 50 motorbikes, including Harleys and Ducatis. The young adults of J's Hospice picked the Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera as the best car in the show, and the event raised £2,500 for the hospice.

Vice Chancellor, for her life-changing dedication to enhancing the lives of young people facing severe challenges, it is my pleasure to present Denise Whiffin for the award of Doctor of Health Sciences, honoris causa.