Marie Curie

Let’s talk about Marie Curie

Here’s your guide to telling our story so more people understand how we help and are inspired to give us their support.

At Marie Curie, we provide care and support for people living with any terminal illness, and their families. We’ve been carrying out this vital work for 70 years – last year alone we helped more than50,000 people across the UK.

But if we’re to continue being there for families, we urgently need your support.

As aMarie Curie Ambassador, you play an important role in communicating the work that we do to people in your local community.

We know that while many peoplehave heard about Marie Curie, they don’t really know what we do and how we support people. And that’s why we need your help. To tell people our story and inspire them to support us so we can continue to do more for more people living with a terminal illness.

To help you to share our story with others, we’ve put together this guide and other resources that you can use including:

  • a PowerPoint presentation with a script, images and videos that you can tailor for your audience
  • a DVD you can take along to your talks if a TV and DVD player are available, and you don’t have access to a laptop or projector facilities
  • a selection of posters on the different aspects of our work that you can print out and display at the venue
  • information about Marie Curie that you can print out and give to your audience.

If you don’t have access to a computer or projector facilities to deliver your presentation, simply print out the alternative PowerPoint presentation slides we’ve prepared for you to share and talk through with your audience. You can still use the same script that you’ll find in this guide.

Thanks so much for your support ̶ we can’t do all that we do without you!

Before you get started…

Here are our tips to make sure your presentation is a success:

  • Before giving your presentation, talk to your Community Fundraiser firstto ask them if there are any Marie Curie events you could promote and include on the last slide (slide 21) of your presentation. This could be a national campaign such as the Great Daffodil Appeal or the launch of a new fundraising group in an area near you.
  • It’s often helpful to assume that your audience is not very familiar with the work of Marie Curie, so always provide more information – especially when you’re talking about what we do and how we help.
  • Feel free to adapt your script to suit your audience and why they would be interested to support Marie Curie. For example, if you don’t live in an area close to a Marie Curie Hospice, you may want to spend less time talking about our hospices and focus more on the care and support our nurses provide in your community.
  • Remember to play the video clips that have been embedded into your presentation, or that are on your DVD, if you have the facility to do so. If you’re not able to play the videos, you can still read out the stories we’ve included in your script – these are compelling real-life accounts that have the potential to emotionally engage your audience. You may also wish to share your personal story on why you’re a Marie Curie supporter or how the charity has helped you or someone close to you.
  • Don’t rush through your presentation. Remember to stop every now and then to check that your audience is following you or if they have any questions or need more information.
  • Make sure your audience can hear you clearly, or they’ll quickly lose interest in what you have to say.
  • Do leave some time for questions after you finish your presentation.
  • And don’t forget the hand-outs. Make sure your audience have information on Marie Curie to take away with them before or after your presentation. This could be a leaflet or print-outs that you’ve prepared beforehand.

If you have any questions on your presentation or script, please ask your Community Fundraiser who will be more than happy to help.

Thanks and good luck!

Your presentation

We’ve included a selection ofimages and videos in the PowerPoint presentation tohelp you tell our story and keep your audience interested and engaged.

We’ve also written a script to go with each slide in your presentation, which you can find in the pages below. The script will help you to deliver all the important messages about Marie Curie to your audience.

This presentation will take around 30 minutes for you to deliver. You can always tailor your presentation and script to suit your style, audience, location and time that you have been given to deliver it.

Your script

Slide 1

Care and support through terminal illness

Every day of your life matters, whether it’s the first or the last.

Every one of us in the UK will be affected at some point by a terminal illness. When that time comes, don’t we all want to be confident the right care will be there for us?

That’s what Marie Curie’s been giving people for 70 years.

Slide 2

We’re here for people with any terminal illness, and their families

We’re here for people with any type of terminal illness, whether it’s terminal cancer, motor neurone disease, dementia or heart failure.

What do we mean by a terminal illness?

  • Someone has a terminal illness when they reach a point where their illness is likely to lead to their death.
  • Depending on their condition and treatment, they may live for days, weeks, months or even years after this point.

Slide 3- video clip (one minute 10 seconds long)

We care for people living with any terminal illness

It’s easy to assume that terminal illness is something that happens to other people, but actually, three-quarters of us will need care and support at the end of our lives.

So what does living with a terminal illness mean for people? We asked a few of the people we’ve helped to share their stories.

“It doesn’t really sink in at first,” says Richard, who is living with dementia.

“I was thinking of the people I love and how I would tell them,” says Paola, a mum of twin boys living with terminal cancer.

“Being ill makes you realise how fragile life is,” says Jason, a father of two young daughters living with motor neurone disease.

“Without the support I receive, I would not be able to live the way I do now, in the way I choose,” says Paul, who has heart failure and gets support from his local Marie Curie Hospice.

Slide 4

How we’re helping people

We offer expert care, guidance and support to help people like Paola, Jason, Paul and Richard,and their families, get the most from the time they have left.

Our services include:

  • Marie Curie Nurses. They work night and day in people’s homes across the UK, providing hands-on care and vital emotional support.
  • Marie Curie Hospices. Our hospices offer specialist round-the-clock care in a friendly, welcoming environment.
  • We also help people throughout their illness, and those close to them, by giving them support from trained Marie Curie Helpervolunteers and being there when someone wants to talk through our Marie Curie Support Line.

Each year, we’re there formore than 50,000 people across the UK.

I’d like to tell you a bit more about our services and how we help families in communities around the UK. Let’s start with perhaps the best-known people in our charity – Marie Curie Nurses.

Slide 5

Marie Curie Nurses

Marie Curie Nurses are experienced in caring for people with a terminal illness in their homes.

  • They provide hands-on care and emotional support in people’s own homes.
  • Their support helps people to be cared for at home for as long as possible, if that’s what they want, rather than having to go into hospital.
  • Having a Marie Curie Nurse means you’re twice as likely to die at home.

Marie Curie Nurses are also there for family members, giving them vital emotional support.

  • When our nurses provide care overnight in people’s homes, it allows families to take a break and get some rest, as they know that their loved ones are being looked after.
  • Our nurses have the time to listen to people’s concerns and talk through their anxieties.
  • They often provide reassurance or a friendly ear to help people through this difficult time.

Every year, our2,160 nursing staff across the UK spend 1.2 million hours caring formore than 33,000 people.

Slide 6 - video clip (two minutes long)

Let’s hear from Lib, one of our nurses,about why she thinks it’s a privilege to be there for someone towards the end of their life.

“I love being able to give one-to-one attention to patients overnight. It can be a difficult job, but the satisfaction you get from letting someone die peacefully and with dignity makes it all worthwhile.

“It is such a huge difference caring for someone in their own home rather than in a hospital environment. That’s why I love being a Marie Curie Nurse.”

Slide 7 - Caroline’s story

“Mum passed away in my arms with all her family around her.”

Caroline’s mother was cared for by Marie Curie Nurses. She told us:

“When someone you love has a terminal illness, you’re scared and don’t know what will happen. They gave us that bit of medical reassurance.

My stepfather has dementia, so the nurses chatted to him and looked after him as well. They also reassured me and my aunt. They looked after all of us.”

I hope Lib and Caroline’s stories have helped show you how important Marie Curie Nurses are at the end of someone’s life, and the difference they make by caring for people in their own homes.

Another key way we’re able to be there for families is through our hospices.

Slide 8

Marie Curie Hospices

There are nine Marie Curie Hospices across the UK, [including (near) here in xxxxx].

  • Each hospice offers the reassurance of specialist care and support, all free of charge to patients, in a friendly, welcoming environment.
  • Our hospices support people with anyterminal illness and their loved ones – whether they’re staying in the hospice, or just coming in for the day.
  • Each hospice hasdoctors, nurses, therapists, social workers, chaplains and counsellors who work together to help people achieve the best possible quality of life.
  • They’ll offer all the support they can to meet people’s needs, whether it’s helping to relieve someone’s symptoms, supporting them and their loved ones at a difficult time, or advising people on practical issues.

Our hospices care for more than 7,500 people with a terminal illness every year.

Slide 9 - hospice video (about five minutes long)

What’s it really like to go to a hospice? You might be surprised!

Gerald, a patient at one of our hospices, says:“You never see anybodywith a dull face, you never see anybodymiserable.”

Jason, whose wife Tina was cared for at one of our hospices, says: “All the staff always made the kids feel welcome. They always took time with them, say hello and chatted to them ̶ it just put everyone at ease.”

Liz, aHospice Manager, says: “We’re very much about life, and the quality of life. We’re here to ensure that all the patients who come for our care do achieve that as best as possible.”

Slide 10 - Susan’s story

“Mum was so happy that we could bring her cat to the hospice”

Treating people as individuals, and listening to what matters to them, is a huge part of what we do at Marie Curie.

Shirlie was cared for at the Marie Curie Hospice, Belfast. Her daughter Susan told us:

“She frequently said: ‘How was I lucky enough to get in here?’ The atmosphere was so positive and friendly and it felt like a home not a hospital.

“A bonus was being able to bring in Buffy – one of Mum’s five cats – to visit. She loved sitting on Mum’s bed, or, if Mum was sitting on a chair, then on her knee.”

Everyone’s experience of terminal illness is different. That’s why we offer free information and support that people can access whenever they need – whether that’s practical information or an understanding ear to listen to their worries.

Slide 11

Information and support for everyone

Our information and support servicesare for everyone affected by terminal illness, whether they’re living with an= illness themselves or they’re supporting someone who is.

  • It’s free to call the Marie Curie Support Line. People can ask questions and find support from our trained staff.
  • Many of the calls we get are from family members looking for support, or just someone to talk to.
  • In 2016/17, we answered 10,305 calls to our Support Line.
  • People can also chat online if they’d prefer. In 2016/17, we completed 1,024 web chats.
  • There’s also practical information on our website at mariecurie.org.uk/support, covering more than 100 topicsabout living with a terminal illness, financial and legal information, looking after someone’s wellbeing and care needs, planning ahead for the future and useful links to other support that’s available.
  • Free printed information booklets are also available.
  • We also know there are times when people just want to talk to someone else in the same situation, someone who understands what they’re going through.
  • Our online community is a safe place where people with a terminal illness and their families can come together to share their experiences with others, any time.

Slide 12

Marie Curie Helper volunteers

Living with a terminal illness can be isolating. Little things most of us take for granted, like a chat over a cup of tea, can make a big difference. That’s where our trained Helper volunteers come in.

  • They visit people regularly for a few hours each week to help them get to an appointment, go out shopping or for a stroll, or just listen when they need a friendly ear.
  • You can find out more about the Helper service at mariecure.org.uk/helper

Slide 13 - Quote from Nasir, who is getting support from Habib, a Helper volunteer

Marie Curie Helper volunteers

Nasir, who’s supported by one of our Helper volunteers, Habib, is a great example of why this service is so important to people:

“Having Habib to help me gives my wife a break and it means she can also go to Friday prayers. It’s very nice to have Habib as a Helper volunteer. It’s extra company and he’s like a son to me.”

Slide 14

The challenges we are facing now

I hope that’s given you a good insight into all the different ways we support people. Unfortunately there’s growing demand for our services as more people are living longer, and many are living with one or more illnesses.

  • Our ageing population means more and more people are living with a terminal illness.
  • Over the next 25 years, the number of deaths will increase by around 100,000 each year.
  • As many as 44% of adults in their last year of life have more than one long-term health conditions.
  • And by 2018, the number of people in England with at least three long-term conditions is expected to have risen by more than 50% since 2008, to 2.9 million people.

Slide 15

The challenges we are facing now

Coupled with that, people’s needs are still not currently being met or recognised.

  • Even now, before we feel the impact of these major changes, someone in the UK dies every five minutes without getting the care and support they need at the end of their life.
  • 41% of carers say that people with a terminal illness don’t always get the information they, or their family or friends, need.

We don’t think that’s good enough. We think more has to be done to meet this challenge.

Slide 16

Our work on policy and research

So we’re working hard to raise awareness of the issues surrounding terminal illness, and funding more research into better care for everyone.

  • We believe everyone living with a terminal illness should have access to high quality care and support, which meets all of their needs.
  • We work with politicians, policymakers, the NHS and other charities to campaign for better care and support on behalf of people affected by a terminal illness.
  • You can help by signing up atmariecurie.org.uk/campaigns
  • We’re a leader in research into better ways of caring for people living with a terminal illness.
  • The research we do explores crucial issues such as ways to treat breathlessness and cancer-related pain.
  • You can find out more atmariecurie.org.uk/research

Slide 17