Tributes have been paid to an award-winning hospital tutor who would 'bend over backwards' to help his patients.
Keith Powles, a lifelong learning and skills for life tutor with the Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust (TEWV) died aged just 46 from a severe attack of acute pancreatitis.
His dedication to his work will continue to be remembered with the launch of an Education Award in his name and the creation of a memorial garden at Ridgeway in Middlesbrough.
The garden will be in honour of anyone who dies whilst working with, or being cared for by, the Trust’s secure inpatient services where Keith worked.
Dominic Gardner, a director for mental health services at the trust, said: “Keith was enormously well respected and well-liked by colleagues and patients, and will be greatly missed.
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“He was passionate about teaching and strived to provide the best for the patients he worked with, and the colleagues he worked alongside.
"He has left a lasting legacy.”
Keith was born in Stockton to teachers June and Leslie and later trained as a teacher too, as did his sister, Yvonne – but he never wanted to work in a typical classroom.
Instead, he joined the Hutton Centre in Middlesbrough – the forerunner to Ridgeway, Roseberry Park Hospital, – as a technical instructor and found his vocation in life.
“It was his calling,” said Keith’s fiancé, Vicky Loughlin. “He loved it, loved the people he worked with and absolutely adored his job.
"It was a huge part of his life.”
No formal educational opportunities were offered to patients when Keith first started work at the Hutton Centre – other than sessions such as art and woodwork.
So Keith dedicated his working life to improving provision and now a huge range of vocational lessons, as well as maths, English and digital skills, are available.
He also created a library, brought internet to the wards and introduced English as a second language class.
Vicky said: “He was so passionate about things being right.
"He would always fight for the rights of patients.
"It was one of the things I really loved about him.
“If he saw something that was needed, even if it wasn’t his job to do it, he would take on the challenge."
Keith’s dedication to his work saw him win a staff award in 2008 and in 2019, Ridgeway won a national award for Outstanding Provision of One Awards Learning.
Many of Keith’s students have continued their education after being discharged, a fact of which Vicky is very proud.
She said: “He would bend over backwards for patients, right down to buying them special pens for tests, as he believed they gave them pride in what they were doing.
“He always wanted to make sure everyone else was OK. If there was something he could do, he would do it.
"It wasn’t just a job to him – he was devoted to his patients.”
Vicky first met Keith in 2009, when she was working as a nursing assistant at the Hutton Centre and both were involved in moving the patients to Ridgeway.
But tragedy struck in spring this year as the couple prepared to buy their first home.
Completion on the new house was just days away when Keith woke up with terrible abdominal pain one night.
He insisted on going into work but it happened again and he was admitted to hospital.
Vicky said: "At first we thought it was a flare up of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), but it wasn’t – it was a severe attack of acute pancreatitis.”
Keith died not long afterwards on April 7, 2022, at North Tees Hospital, with Vicky at his bedside.
“He was surrounded by love,” she said. “The messages, memories and stories we have received since he died have been amazing.
"He touched the lives of so many."
A memorial service was recently held for Keith at The Hive, which was packed with patients and staff.
TEWV’s deputy head of Chaplaincy, Tim Dixon, who led the service, said: “Keith has left behind a large gap that will be impossible to fill.
"The pain that we feel that he’s no longer here with us will take a long time to heal.”
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