Fundraising appeal as charity marks 75 years of supporting people with high-complex needs

For 75 years The Chaseley Trust has cared for people living with physical or neurological injuries at the 55-bed home in Eastbourne.

Starting out as a hospital for injured soldiers returning from the Second World War, Chaseley now cares for adults with a complex neurological illness or physical disability.

Residents at Chaseley have high, complex care needs which consist of a wide range of neurological disabilities including spinal injury, acquired and traumatic brain injury, stroke rehabilitation and degenerative neurological conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis, Motor Neurone and Parkinson’s disease.

History

The Chaseley Trust was established in Eastbourne in 1946 by Dr Luttwig Guttmann to care for soldiers returning from the Second World War with spinal injuries.

On September 24 1946 Chaseley’s charity deed was sealed, following the generous donation of Chaseley House and £55,000 from Lady Michaelis a year prior, enabling Chaseley to become a hospital for paralysed servicemen.

Chaseley was officially opened one month later, on October 28.

Today, the ethos of the charity remains the same as when it was first founded; to enable people with disabilities to lead a full and active life despite their disabilities.

Last year, the charity cared for more than 100 residents and supported their families as they coped with the suddenness or deterioration of their loved one’s condition.

Fundraising appeal

To mark this milestone year, The Chaseley Trust has launched a £375,000 fundraising appeal to help modernise, update and refresh the home.

The Chaseley Trust is a unique, independent charity-owned nursing home which receives most of its funding through residents fees. This contributes to care and daily running costs, but we have just five per cent surplus to fund all our additional costs including upkeep of the building, upgrading equipment and providing extra activities and services for residents are paid for through fundraising and donations.

Donations raised this year will go towards upgrading the Activate Gym, the resident kitchens on each floor, the therapy kitchen and replacing the flooring throughout the building with a more hardwearing material.

The charity also wants to complete a full building survey to enable Chaseley to plan the next 10-year maintenance schedule and undergo building works to ensure the home can be preserved for the next 75 years.

Future planning

Jodie Cornford, Fundraising Manager, said: “The Chaseley building is a complicated one that has been altered and extended over many years and with a property of this size and complexity it is important to future plan any building works, including maintenance, repairs and improvements. With your help, we are sure that throughout 2021 we will be able to reach this target and ensure our residents continue to receive the excellent care and therapy they require, whilst living in a first-class home that they deserve.

“We know times have been hard for everyone and we have really missed seeing our supporters this last year, especially as all our fundraising events were cancelled. We are really looking forward to being able to host events again in 2021 and we have plenty of plans in place and ready to go when it is safe to do so.”

Support

Jodie continued: “ ‘Did you know that you can donate to Chaseley in a variety of ways? You can visit our website, click the donate button to make a general donation or even set up a regular monthly/quarterly donation, on our Fundraising Page we have links to our fundraising appeals, you could host a fundraising event on our behalf, participate in a sponsored activity or make us your Charity of the Year in your work place.

“We appreciate that not everyone can support us financially, but perhaps you could display our promotional leaflets and flyers, follow us, and share our posts on social media, promote our planned events throughout the year, share our story, subscribe to our e-newsletter or maybe you could support us with a raffle/auction prize.

“All these things will help Chaseley greatly – we want our 75th year to be a celebration of what Chaseley has achieved over the years.

“We have amazing residents who all do amazing things and achieve so much that we want to share their experiences with as many people as possible.

“Whilst being a relatively large home, Chaseley really is the small charity next door and this is why we appreciate the support we receive from our local community.”

Find out how to support The Chaseley Trust at: chaseley.org.uk

Chaseley has helped Tracey move to independent living

Tracey Okines, a former resident at Chaseley, said her time at the home was ‘the best decision I ever made’.

Tracey has Locked-In Syndrome, a condition in which a person is aware, but cannot move or communicate verbally except for vertical eye movements and blinking.

But this hasn’t stopped her from publishing her first book, using a communication board to spell out every single word. The book was typed by other people, including a Chaseley volunteer, but it is very much Tracey’s story, one of courage and persistence.

Tracey was given just two years to live at the time of her accident in 2008. She came to Chaseley in 2017 and describes the move as the ‘best decision I ever made’.

She said: “I am happiest here and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Since being at Chaseley, Tracey reached some great achievements. She no longer has her food via a liquid feed, she now enjoys eating her meals, which are chopped into very small pieces.

She has become much more independent as part of her physiotherapy rehabilitation and maintains strong head movement to help manoeuvre her wheelchair which uses the headrest to steer.

Her love for life and sheer determination has helped Tracey’s diagnosis move from Full Locked In Syndrome to Partial Locked In Syndrome.

Tracey’s ultimate aim when she came to Chaseley was to progress through treatment to enable her to move into her own home.

And now, after nearly four years of living at Chaseley, Tracey has left to live in her own adapted home, with 24 hour care support.

She may have achieved her goal of moving into her own home, but that hasn’t stopped her setting new ones. Next up Tracey would love to do a skydive. So, watch this space!

‘Positive changes’ for Alvin during his time at Chaseley

Alvin is a resident at The Chaseley Trust and his progress in just a few months shows the positive affect the charity has for people with complex neurological and physical needs.

Alvin has a neurological disability from an acquired brain injury that affects motivation, planning, social behaviour, and language and speech production. He had been living at home and was able to walk with the aid of a zimmer frame, but unfortunately at the beginning of 2020 he fell ill and had to return to hospital.

Following his treatment, Alvin moved to Chaseley in April 2020, on a diet of pureed food, unable to walk and having to use a full body hoist to transfer between the bed and wheelchair.

Following his treatment, Alvin moved to Chaseley in April 2020, on a diet of pureed food, unable to walk and having to use a full body hoist to transfer between the bed and wheelchair.

Alvin’s disabilities mean that he has experienced a personality change, has a short attention span and has problems communicating.

He is 46 and requires one-to-one care to support his physical and emotional needs as he is often very agitated and sometimes aggressive. This is expected with the nature of his injuries, alongside the added reality of not being able to return home as soon as he would like, nor being able to walk as he previously did.

Within one and half months of being at Chaseley, Alvin independently progressed onto a normal diet, where he was able to start to feed himself.

Additionally, he has also now started to move with some support from staff to help him maintain his balance.

Nurse manager Daniela said: “Alvin has made such huge progress and it is wonderful to see.

“To think just nine months ago he was bed/chair bound and now he can walk to the toilet and back by himself, tie his own shoelaces and is even able to undertake elements of his own personal care. Alvin has started to join in the daily activities programme here at Chaseley and he loves to paint.

“His communication has come on greatly, especially when chatting about his favourite thing, motorbikes! It has been a real pleasure to watch Alvin’s progress and to see the positive changes in him.”

‘Fabulous’ recognition’ for The Chaseley Trust team

The Chaseley Trust has been named the Best Independent Charity-Owned Care Home in South East England by an industry awards body.

The fourth annual GHP (Global Health & Pharma) Social Care Awards demonstrate organisations’ achievements over the past year and serves as an opportunity to show employees just how much their efforts are valued.

Last year was one of the toughest 12 months that the social care industry has had to face. As the Covid-19 pandemic gripped the world, it was the front-line health and social care workers who valiantly guided our communities safely through this pandemic by offering care and support where others could not.

The Chaseley Trust received a nomination, and after assessing the nominees, GHP’s research team cast their final judgment based on various criteria, such as great contribution to global healthcare industries, longevity, diversification, sustained or continued growth, significant innovations and feedback from patients and customers.

For the 2021 Social Care Awards, The Chaseley Trust was named the Best Independent Charity-Owned Care Home - South East England.

Emma Rich-Spice, Chaseley’s new CEO, said: “On behalf of all The Chaseley Trust staff and residents we are incredibly delighted to have received this award.

“This is fabulous recognition of the work done by a marvellous team, who do everything in their power to help provide specialist, complex nursing care and therapy for adults with a wide range of neurological and physical disabilities such as, spinal injury, acquired and traumatic brain injury, stroke, loss of limbs and progressive conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis, Motor Neurone and Parkinson’s Disease.

“We would like to thank our Trustees, families, supporters and GHP for this incredible honour.”

To find out more about The Chaseley Trust and its achievements over the past 75 years, visit: chaseley.org.uk