Meet Terry – Our new Chair of Trustees
St Catherine’s Hospice formally introduced its new Chair of Trustees, Terry O’Leary earlier this year.
ABOUT TERRY
Horsham resident, Terry has personal experience of St Catherine’s care, after his wife Jenny died in 2014. He works in global finance and has been involved in the charity’s Voices of Experience forum, where patients and carers give vital insight and feedback on the hospice.
Terry said: “I’m delighted and honoured to become Chair of the Board of Trustees. My involvement with St Catherine’s began in 2013 through my wife, Jenny, who was diagnosed with lung cancer. We both knew about St Catherine’s through reputation and friends who’d been cared for. We, of course, never expected to need their care ourselves, and if I’m honest were very apprehensive, expecting something sombre. Nothing could have been further from the reality we experienced, helping us make the most of Jenny’s time up to her death in March 2014. I was – literally – amazed that people at St Catherine’s could spend their working lives helping people like us – strangers – to make the best of the most difficult time of our lives.”
Giles Tomsett, Chief Executive of St Catherine’s, said: “We look forward to working with Terry to ensure we build a sustainable future for the hospice underpinned by a commitment to excellence in all that we do.”
St Catherine’s trustees are unpaid volunteers who oversee how the local hospice is governed. Coming from a varied professional backgrounds, the hospice benefits from the wealth of skills they bring.
