Couple say ‘I Do’ at hospice in midst of Coronavirus pandemic

In a room full of family and surrounded by twinkling fairy lights, patient Joanne and her partner Andrew were declared husband and wife in a short service.  

The couple have been together for 23 years, and have two daughters who witnessed them get married. The service was led by the charity’s very own chaplain Elaine Dejonge, after staff struggled to find a registrar who would come out to them due to the pandemic.

Chief Executive Claire Marshall said: “Though we might all currently be living in unpredictable times, there's one thing that we know for sure here at Compton, love is always certain. Our patients matter no matter what, they will always come first and I’m so proud to have an incredible team to go above and beyond to be there for them.

“This is a really difficult time but it’s wonderful to see everyone coming together and watch as they made Joanne and Andrew’s dream of getting married become a reality, and we'd all like to extend our warmest congratulations to the newlyweds and thank them for letting us be a part of such a special day.“

The celebration comes after the charity announced it would be temporarily suspending its clinic-based activities for patients accessing its Living Well Centre and reducing its Lymphoedema Service, shifting its focus to supporting patients over the phone instead.

In a statement posted on its website the charity said: “Our priority is to ensure our Inpatient Unit continues to operate safely and to the best of our ability. We are also exploring how we can extend this service to support the needs of our palliative care patients in our region. We will be adapting to enable more patients to access our services and to reduce pressures on acute hospital beds.

“We have a wonderful staff team at Compton Care, and they are ready and willing to support the local health care system at a time of unprecedented pressures.”