A HOSPICE charity serving people in Purbeck and beyond has taken to animation in a bid to raise awareness and encourage gifts in wills.

The Forest Holme Hospice Charity has launched a new animated video as it seeks to inform people of the work it does – and raise much-needed funds.

The charity worked with agency Top Cat Media to produce the video, inspired by the experience many patients and their families go through from diagnosis through to end-of-life care, highlighting Forest Holme’s holistic person-centred approach to care.

The story is told through the eyes of a young girl as it follows her grandad’s journey using the different services the hospice provides, including counselling, complementary therapies, community nursing and care on the in-patient ward.

Paul Tucker, communications manager at Forest Holme, said: “One of the key messages that we wanted to get across is that hospice care isn’t just about coming here in the last few weeks of life but being there from the first stages of diagnosis right through to providing care and support for families after the loss of a loved one.

“For Forest Holme, it is all about the personal, unique nature of our care, which always places the individual at its heart.”

The video will be the centre of a digital media campaign, which will include television adverts.

The hospice provides palliative and end-of life-care and support to more than 1,500 people each year across Poole, Wimborne and the Isle of Purbeck.

NHS funding is limited, the charity said, and it needs to raise £1 million each year so the team can deliver the ‘highest level of care and support within the community, either at home or in its dedicated hospice facility’.

Hannah O’ Hare, CEO of Forest Holme Hospice Charity, added: “The cost-of-living crisis has caused donations to our charity to fall. Legacy income is becoming increasingly important to us.

“Without it, we simply couldn’t provide many of the life enhancing services our community relies on.”

Bournemouth-based Top Cat Media have been collaborating with the charity team at Forest Holme over the past few months on this project.

Ross Taylor, founder and managing director of Top Cat, said: “It was a real privilege to be able to work with our friends at Forest Holme in order to curate something that connects so closely with each and every one of us in some capacity.

“The work they do is incredible, effectively ensuring that those affected by a life-limiting illness get the care and support they need.”

The video is available on Vimeo via https://vimeo.com/846536223 For more information about Forest Holme Hospice visit www.forestholmehospice.org.uk or for details about Gift In Wills visit www.forestholmehospice.org.uk/leave-a-gift-in-your-will.