Tonight in Australia (Thursday, 5 November, 830pm), SBS Insight tackles the topic of cardiopulmonary resuscitation and whether it’s always the right thing to do. (There are some familiar faces in the preview video!)
The discussions on Insight are usually excellent. I’m hoping for some thoughtful conversation about advance care planning, and hearing from people with life-limiting illnesses and their loved ones.
Palliverse will be participating in the Twitter chat surrounding the show (#insightSBS).
“It’s about starting a conversation…[Doctors need to] throw in a phrase like how you going, how’s the old boy, is he getting up, is he getting the job done?”
“…I find men want to talk about it, but someone has to start the conversation with them.”
Pulitzer prize-winner Tina Rosenberg visits La Crosse, Wisconsin, home of the Respecting Choices program, where 96% of adults reportedly participate in advance care planning discussions. (Talking Early About How Life Should End, New York Times).
It’s hard to predict events in the final days and hours of a person’s life. Some deaths are wonderful – a gentle decline preceding a gracious demise. Certainly these are the sorts of deaths we see in films or on television, where the dying patient bids farewell to gathered family and friends before softly closing his eyes.
These gentle departures happen in real life too – many people simply die in their sleep, and many families and friends share the privilege of witnessing the calm and serene departure of a loved one. Of course, grief follows, but those left behind are able to take solace in the knowledge and memory of a peaceful passing.
Unfortunately for every “good” death, there are many which are much more stormy and drawn out. These deaths can leave families traumatised for many years or simply make the grief that much harder.
If you’re not attending the conference, then you can follow the #13APCC hashtag to see what conference attendees (including @palliverse) are sharing. You do not need a Twitter account to follow the hashtag, just follow this link for up to date conference tweets.
Little Stars is an award-winning series of films about paediatric palliative care, made by Melbourne’s Moonshine Movies and partially crowd-funded (via Indigogo).
They are looking for people to host screenings of the film, particularly around World Hospice and Palliative Care day in October. From their website:
“We encourage you to get behind the project and help us band together towards the goal of ensuring that every child needing palliative care can access it worldwide, thereby relieving the suffering of children and families facing life-limiting illness.
As a result, we’re delighted to invite you to pledge to host a screening or to use the films for public education or advocacy. In return, we will mail you a DVD of the films in the Little Stars collection and a How-to-Host-A-Screening Guide at no cost.”
Welcome to this week’s collection all things palliative from around the web. There have been some excellent palliative care-related articles published recently in the mainstream media, in addition to coverage of Dying to Know Day.
It’s Dying To Know Day (#D2KD) in Australia tomorrow, an “annual day of action dedicated to bringing to life conversations and community actions around death, dying and bereavement.” D2KD Ambassador Molly Carlile, AKA the Deathtalker, appeared on The Weekly this week, passionately arguing that the community needs to take ownership of death back from the health system, with discussion of advance care planning, preferred place of death, bereavement and more. I love her plans for her own funeral – watch the video above to find out more (it’s an extended version of the interview that appeared on TV). Continue reading →
Welcome to the 23rd edition of Elsewhere in the Palliverse. I hope you find value in this week’s links about palliative care and research – complete with animal story.
You’re welcome, animal-lovers.
As always, please share your thoughts in the comments.
Brand new blog DocGrief is “a dedicated space for health professionals to reflect and explore our relationship with death and grief, particularly when personally affected by a death in the family.” It was started by a rural GP based in South Australia. Her first post is heartfelt and I am following with interest. Continue reading →
It’s National Pain Week in Australia and I wanted to share this excellent article by Pain Specialist Dr Michael Vagg, first published in The Conversation. I have huge respect for my colleagues caring for people with persistent pain. It is a challenging specialty, often dealing with complex physical, psychological, social and existential challenges, in the setting of limited resources. We often call upon their services to help manage palliative care patients (particularly with interventions like intrathecal catheters or nerve blocks). Also, as the palliative care approach is being taken earlier in the trajectory of many diseases, we are increasingly caring for patients with persistent pain. – Elissa
How badly do we want to solve this $32bn dollar persistent pain problem?
This week is National Pain Week so it’s only fitting that I should climb onto the soapbox again in support of people with persistent pain, their employers, workmates, friends, and families. The economic burden of persistent pain in our country is enormous, and the arguments in favour of a co-ordinated national response are compelling. The lack of such a political and economic imperative puzzles me. If you don’t believe me, perhaps this will convince you. Continue reading →
I have a few palliative care links to share this week. If you’re not satisfied, we also share links on our Facebook page and Twitter account (you don’t need your own Twitter account to see what we’re posting), and you can check out our Elsewhere in the Palliverse archives.
And a palliative care nurse told me that day after day she visited a person dying at home and day after day she walked into a house full of scented candles and rainforest music, until one day she said “Is anyone else sick of these scented candles?” and the family said “Yes”. “And is anyone else sick of this rainforest music?” And the family said “Yes”. So the nurse said “Well, let’s open some windows, and what music does your mum like? OK, let’s put on some Stones.”
Welcome to this week’s collection all things palliative from around the web. There have been some excellent palliative care-related articles published recently in the mainstream media, in addition to coverage of Dying to Know Day.
palliverse.com 