Families of people who died in hospice care says the experience can be 'hugely comforting' for both the person who is dying and their relatives.
Today marked the Hospice Coffee Morning in aid of specialist palliative hospice and homecare services - the biggest annual fundraiser for hospice services in the country.
Due to the impact of COVID-19, many events can't take place as usual - with the organisations involved raising funds online in a bid to make up for the shortfall.
Niamh O’Donnell Keenan spoke to Lunchtime Live about her family's experiences.
Both of Niamh’s parents passed away at St Francis Hospice - her father in 2006, and her mother in February of this year.
She explained: "My dad was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2005, and the consultant suggested palliative care referral at that stage. Thankfully for my dad and all the family he accepted that referral."
A whole range of services initially kicked in - from a helpline for the family to monitor pain medication, to respite visits for Niamh's mother - before her father entered the hospice full-time for the last few weeks of his life.
Niamh said: "The whole thing about the hospice is it's so holistic - it's looking at the family in total, not just the person dying.
"The whole point is to make the person who's dying live every moment well to the end, and to die well. If the family are along that journey too and can buy into that... it's so much easier for the person.
"I just think they work very hard at assessing the individual family members... the support that might be needed... the little chat... the cup of tea... all those things that help the family come together."
The family's experiences made Niamh's mother want to have the hospice experience herself as she neared the end of her life.
Niamh said: "She only spent 30 hours in the hospice, but she was exactly where she wanted to be: she had what she wanted - a short illness - and a death in the hospice where her husband had died. That was hugely comforting.
"I cannot adequately express to you the feeling of peace that I got - it was like a homecoming, and being able to feel my mother would get the palliative care she needed."
She suggested there is perhaps a misunderstanding that hospices are just for cancer patients - but stressed that's 'certainly not the case' now.
'The most beautiful ceremony'
Listener Marie got married in a hospice in Raheny in Dublin, three weeks before her husband passed away from terminal cancer.
She recalled: "He wasn't actually in the hospice... it was 2010, and there was really, really bad snow at the time.
"He approached them and said he wanted us to be married before he passed away.
"They arranged the whole thing - it's not a simple matter... but they arranged the most beautiful ceremony for us.
"We were both religious enough, but obviously we couldn't have a religious service because we'd been married before."
As times goes on, Marie says she appreciates everything the hospice staff did the more and more.
She said: "They're responsible for so much that has happened in my and my children's life - my daughter decided to become a social care worker purely on what she saw at the time. She was only 14... she saw the thought and care, and what went into the work they did.
"There isn't enough that can be said about them - they're just the most amazing group of people you could possibly come across in your life."
