12 minute read
News & Resources
Resources
Resources WHAT IS PALLIATIVE CARE?
Advertisement
VIEW FULL PROGRAM
About Palliative Care is an easy-access online learning tool, designed for use by volunteers, volunteer managers, and anyone else in the community who is interested in understanding more about palliative care. It is designed as a set of five standalone video sessions or, can be used in companion with our printed and online training resources for palliative care volunteers.
GWANDALAN MODULE 4 NOW LIVE
The Gwandalan Project is focused on providing practical education to the frontline staff delivering palliative and end-of-life care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples during the returning to Spirit journey. Module 4: Strengthening Relationships from the eLearning series is now live. Learners are encouraged to complete modules 1–3 prior to commencing module 4.
Register here.
PaCE YOURSELF
PaCE is a directory app that provides links to hundreds of free training resources developed through Australian Governmentfunded palliative care projects.
Resources are relevant to generalist or specialist health professionals and cover topics such as communication, symptom management, legal and ethical aspects of care, and decision-making and therapeutic partnerships at end of life.
VIEW THE APP
END OF LIFE PAEDIATRIC CARE
VIEW MODULE ONLINE
End of Life Law for clinicians is a free training program for medical practitioners, nurses and allied health professionals.
New and updated modules include Module 7: Children and end of life decision-making, and outcomes include learning how to: • Identify who may make decisions for children aboutlife-sustaining treatment • Explain when a competent child may be able to consent to or refuse their own treatment • Identify when emergency treatment can be provided to children without consent.
The module references the EOL Essentials Paediatric End-of-Life Care module.
When the time comes
A must read!
This book is a collection of rich and honest short stories told by those who are suffering from irreversible and terminal conditions. It offers powerful insights into the parallel experiences of the caregivers of people who are approaching the end of their life and health practitioners who have spent their careers dedicated to treating, managing, and caring for their dying patients and supporting their families through the process.
Read the full review here.
END OF LIFE ESSENTIALS
Planning end of life care: Goals of care learning module
• How helpful goals of care are to patients, families and health professionals • The importance of family in the provision of care • How to discuss and negotiate goals of care • Strategies on how to manage difference of opinion or expectations in care.
Learn more and register.
News & updates
News
MEET PEYO: A MOST UNLIKELY THERAPIST
“Doctor Peyo” is a much-loved horse who comforts cancer patients in the Calais Hospital, France. Peyo and his owner once competed at dressage events. Now they spend their time doing hospital rounds, often staying with people until the end. People who raise horses often claim that the animals have a therapeutic effect on them. Peyo is well known as an “excellent” therapist. Once inside the hospital, Peyo is free to go wherever he wants. Incredibly, Peyo often goes into the rooms of people who are the sickest, in many cases those who are dying. He just stands near the patients and they instantly take a liking to him. A sort of silent communication between Peyo and the patients takes place and people even cry in the horse’s presence.
PCNSW NEW STRATEGIC PLAN NOW ONLINE
Our strategic plan outlines our areas of focus for the next three years, which have been determined by membership surveys, collaboration with stakeholders, our own experience as a team, committee consultation, community discussion and of course, the challenges of COVID-19. View our plan online.
EVERY LIFE MATTERS
HammondCare CEO Mike Baird offered his view on why voluntary assisted dying laws are not the best response to the pain and suffering of an individual’s last days in the Sydney Morning Herald. Read his full statement below.
When faced with the terminal suffering of someone you love, almost nothing else matters. I understand the pain. The renewed debate about voluntary assisted dying in NSW is personal for me – my mother died earlier this year following a battle with a terrible disease over a number of years. There were days when I cried just wishing she would walk, talk or laugh again. It is also easy in these circumstances to understand how people wish it would just end, believing quality of life is over. I don’t agree. In the last 12 months of mum’s life, my eldest daughter was going through a marriage breakdown. It was heart-wrenching for everyone. In the middle of this, my daughter went to visit my mum. She greeted my daughter with tears and eyes that shared the pain. When my daughter came home she said, “I have never felt so loved”. It was as if my mum’s eyes had given her the hug she needed, the tears the comfort.
Read more
Two world leaders in Palliative Care
Lancaster (UK) Professors Nancy Preston and Sheila Payne have both been recognised as world leaders in palliative care.
The researchers from the International Observatory on End of Life Care at Lancaster University have both been listed in the top 0.1% of scholars worldwide writing about this topic. Expertscape’s PubMed-based algorithms rate scholars writing about Palliative Care over the past decade, with the top 0.1% rated as “World Expert”. Brendan McAdams and John Sotos from Expertscape congratulated both Lancaster professors. “Reaching this level of expertise is a tremendous achievement.”
Professor Sheila Payne is widely recognised throughout the world as an influential leader in promoting multidisciplinary work in palliative care. She is a former President of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) and also holds a visiting chair at Ulster University, Northern Ireland.
Read more
Memory Lane takes people to happy places as final wish
Read more
In the final days of their lives, many find themselves in a care or health facility, reflecting on a lifetime of moments and memories in the places where they were happiest. Memory Lane is a no-cost service that supports patients in end-of-life care to visit a place that holds meaning for them. The service is entirely donor-funded and staffed by medically trained health care professionals who volunteer their time. It launched in May this year, after the Royal Flying Doctor Service saw a need for dedicated vehicles to help palliative care patients travel to their happy places. For 93-year-old Jack Smith, it was his family farm in Romsey.
PALLIATIVE CARE FOR FORSTER
A palliative care doctor-intraining and palliative care nurse are working with other services to provide support for patients in the ForsterTuncurry area. With assistance from Manning Base Hospital’s Department of Specialist Palliative Care, Mayo and Forster private hospitals and local GPs, palliative care specialist, Arron Veltre has been instrumental in recruiting Yvette Etherden and Emma Mcleod, respectively, to the roles. “Yvette and Emma show incredible commitment to giving patients and their families the support they need at what is usually the most difficult time in their lives,” Dr Veltre said.
Dr Veltre and the new recruits will work with local GPs, the community palliative care team and the private hospitals’ allied health care team to provide best-practice palliative care.
Read more
LIONS TAKE PRIDE IN SUPPORTING WAUCHOPE HOSPITAL
Wauchope Lions Club has a long history of supporting its local public hospital, and this week the club’s president was on site to present a refurbished gift from seven years ago. Back in 2014, the hardworking Lions, with a dollar-for-dollar grant from the Lions Clubs NSW-ACT Public Health Care foundation, donated two treatment chairs at a cost $13,000 to Wauchope District Memorial Hospital’s newly opened Urgent Care Centre. In 2015, the Lions undertook a labourintensive garden makeover at the hospital. In 2017, the club donated a $13,500 specialised lifting chair, in 2019 it was a $10,720 ECG unit and $12,000 for five pressure mattresses for the Palliative Care Unit. The latest donation brings the Lions support of Wauchope Hospital in the past seven years to a remarkable $42,351.
Read more
8 things you need to know about Palliative Care Volunteering
Working in palliative care is one of the most rewarding volunteer choices anyone can make. Not only does it make a huge difference to the person who is dying and their family, but also to the volunteer’s own life. Volunteers learn to cherish each day, listen deeply and value life as a precious gift. But it’s not for everyone - this article outlines what it takes to be a palliative care volunteer. To find out more you can contact your local palliative care service or chat with us here at Palliative Care NSW.
HELP PROJ-
ECTPalliative Care NSW collaborates with like-minded partners and stakeholders to help achieve our collective vision that all people approaching and reaching end of life, have equity of, and access to, quality palliative care supports and services. We are currently delivering some exciting programs in the CAPACITYHELP Project 2021, in partnership with La Trobe University (Vic). The HELP Project (Healthy End of Life) is a research-informed and evidencebased public health palliative care initiative. It aims to identify and build on local community capacity as an integral part of palliative care service, working with carers and family to support those receiving end of life care in their home or other community setting.
The CAPACITY-HELP project is supported by funding from COORDINARE-South Eastern NSW, through the Australian Government’s PHN program. The program is being delivered in partnership with Palliative Care NSW and La Trobe University.
PHPC Ambassadors Network
The Ambassadors Network aims to link formal and informal alliance networks for a more integrated approach to PHPC. The program fosters leadership and relationships as an ongoing network for cross-sector collaboration. The objective is for the network to actively promote and practice a PHPCapproach to palliative care, in their place of work and community.
WHAT IS INVOLVED?
• Link formal and informal alliance networks for an integrated PHPC approach • Foster leadership and relationships as an ongoing network for cross sector
PHPC collaboration
• Embrace the principles of PHPC: – Promote death and grief as a natural part of life – Promote collaborative culture for community support – Support individual and community in planning for and experiencing end of life • Meet/connect regularly to share learnings and experiences • Executive services and resource support provided by PCNSW We invite you as a professional in your business sector or a community leader, who has a passion for supporting people and their family and carers at end of life, to join the Ambassador Network.
Click here to read more about the Ambassadors Network
P U B L I C H E A L T H P A L L I A T I V E C A R E
A M B A S S A D O R S N E T W O R K
J o i n u s o n o u r m i s s i o n t o e m b r a c e t h e p r i n c i p l e s o f P H P C a n d e n d o f l i f e i n i t i a t i v e s i n y o u r w o r k o r c o m m u n i t y .
• P r o m o t e d e a t h a n d g r i e f a s a n a t u r a l p a r t o f l i f e • P r o m o t e c o l l a b o r a t i v e c u l t u r e • S u p p o r t i n d i v i d u a l / c o m m u n i t y p l a n n i n g f o r E O L • B u i l d i n d i v i d u a l / c o l l e c t i v e k n o w l e d g e t o s h a r e
PHPC Community Conversations
PHPC (Public Health Palliative Care) promotes action through clinical care as well as cross-sector collaboration with community. We want to support the community to increase its confidence in dialogue around end of life. In Community Conversations, we have developed an education workshop-style presentation that provides simple and effective information to carers, family and community about PHPC. Topics covered include: what is palliative care, navigating end of life matters, dying as being a normal part of life and advance care planning. These sessions have been developed into long-form for face-to-face community gatherings and an edited onehour session for online. They are designed for anyone, or any community group who would like to know more about supporting PHPC in their community. It’s easy to be involved. For instance, if you are part of a community group, neighbourhood centre, a local business group, a local council member or a volunteer manager we can organise an online session for you in your next meeting. All you need is access to a computer and wifi.
Let's talk about palliative care Community Conversations Expressions of Interest These education sessions are for members of the community who have a passion for supporting people at end of life. Topics to be covered include: navigating end of life matters dying as being a normal part of life advance care planning These 3 hour face-to-face, or 1 hour online sessions will be rolled out over NSW from October 2021 onwards. We are seeking Expressions of Interestif you would like to host one in your community or work place. Contact Linda Hansen, C O Palliative Care NSW on 0403 699 491.
