Australian Institute of Health and Welfare statistics show that most people who who access palliative care have cancer. However, palliative care can be of benefit to many people living with non-malignant diseases and chronic illness as well. These include dementia, heart disease, lung disease or kidney disease, to name a few. Many people could benefit from what palliative care can offer, such as management of pain and other symptoms, advance care planning for the end of life, and support for carers.

In 2016, we hope that National Palliative Week will spark discussions about what it means to live well with chronic illness, and what care people would like at the end of life.

 

 

This month, @palliverse and @PCACEO invite you to join us for a #PALLANZ tweetchat to discuss “Living Well with Chronic Illness” on 26th May 2016. This online tweetchat will be an opportunity to share your experiences, ask your questions and talk about the key issues about living well with life-limiting illness – be that dementia, cancer, MND, heart failure, or any other serious chronic condition. To learn more, see the Dying to Talk website.

What? Topics for discussion:

• T1 What does “living well with chronic illness” mean to you?
• T2 What do you think palliative care can offer for people with chronic illness?
• T3 How can we improve access to palliative care for people with chronic illness? Are there barriers to overcome?
• T4 What one thing will you do in 2016 to get people #dyingtotalk about living well with chronic illness?

Who?

Everyone with an interest in these issues is welcome, including:

• People living with chronic illness, serious illness, life-limiting illness
• Carers or loved ones of people living with chronic illness
• Clinicians, researchers.
• Health service managers, administrators, policymakers.
• Other interested members of the community.
• Anyone who wants to learn more about palliative care.

When? Thursday, 26th May 2016

• 5:00pm AWST Perth
• 6:30pm ACST Adelaide, Darwin
• 7:00pm AEST Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Brisbane
• 9:00pm NZST Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch

How?

The @Palliverse moderator for this tweet-chat will be Elissa Campbell (@Elissa_Campbell). If you would like to ask your questions, or share your ideas and experiences with our #PALLANZ community, but are unable to join us on 28 April – please contact @Elissa_Campbell via twitter or email us (Palliverse@gmail.com) ahead of the tweetchat.

If you are new to twitter or have never participated #PALLANZ tweetchat, check out our tutorial here. Once you have a twitter account, just type the hashtag #PALLANZ into the search bar at the time of the tweetchat and click ‘live’ to watch the chat unfold. You can join in by adding the hashtag #PALLANZ to your tweets.

Look forward to welcoming you to #PALLANZ soon.