Question! Stefan Baudy
Healthcare systems have been grappling with defining quality care for some time. Some aspects of quality care, such as equitable and timely access, are understood and broadly applicable regardless of the type of care provided. Others fit more awkwardly with palliative care provision.
“You matter, your care matters,” was the key message from his Excellency Sir Peter Cosgrove, Governor-General of Australia in declaring National Palliative Care Week 2017 open today. Palliverse was lucky enough to be in attendance for the event held on a stunning Canberra Autumn morning at Government House.
NPCW17 at Government House
For as long as our culture has being making art death, dying, and exploring the meaning of our fragile mortal lives have been key themes. Historically the arts have framed our practices around preparing for dying, celebrating lives, and pondered the traverse into the unknown. Artists of antiquity often used their media to describe the care for the dying and the dead, reflecting a palliative focus of the arts which continues to this day.
At ANZSPM16 one topic up for discussion will be the palliative care and frailty in older people. If you are interested in knowing a bit more about this then read on.
A key theme of ANZSPM 2016 is providing palliative care for the older person. There is perhaps no greater change to the palliative care landscape than that of our ageing population, and the challenges that this will pose how we approach and define palliative care. This short series of posts will explore some of the key issues in this area of practice.
Ed: We are fortunate to be able to share another piece from Elizabeth Caplice (@hrasvelgveritas). Elizabeth’s writings are an inspiration to all of our team and I’m sure many more people out in the palliverse. It is difficult to genuinely experience a journey you haven’t taken, but Elizabeth’s reflections allow us a moving insight into how it feels to take those steps. On behalf of us all I would like to thank Elizabeth for her reflections on her journey, for her writing and for her self.
I’ve written before here about my time with cancer, and i am starting what i am considering a new part of my path. my body is beginning to tire in a way it hasn’t been in the past. the chemotherapy – relatively gentle – is taking a toll on my body that is harsh and starting to cause me to question my own desire to continue treatment, and i know my liver is no longer managing either the treatment it is receiving now, or the almost two years of treatment, particularly well.
i have been terminally ill for some time, under one definition or another, but the sort of treatment i am seeking now, and the way my body feels now, is changing. i know that i am getting ready to move from my oncology team to my palliative care team, and that i am preparing to begin the process of dying.
I read the news today oh boyAbout a lucky man who made the grade
When I was younger I was raised on a steady diet of rock and pop music. The Beatles, The Stones and Bowie were a regular sound track. An early and important experience of the significance of death for me was my father talking about the death of John Lennon. He spoke about it with the same hollow awe that I have heard people use in talking about JFK or Princess Di. These events and other deaths like them were for many moments of cultural punctuation. Events that changed people’s lives and their worlds.
Death and dying is all around us. Yet, we can be distanced from these realities due to the anxiety that death provokes and our society’s approach to dealing with it. Our relationship with the deaths of those closest to us can be limited by their being hidden away as a clinical activity within our hospitals and aged care facilities. By contrast the deaths of public figures have never been more visible and scrutinised. Social Media and the constant news cycle mean that we are always in the loop. Our uneasy fascination is privileged with contact and information.
Like many of you I was glued to Q&A last night. The topic was “Facing Death”
and the discussion pivoted around the panel’s view around the right or otherwise of Australians to have access to euthanasia.
Needless to say the twittersphere was running hot, but clear to a number of commentators was that many were poorly informed about the topics at hand. From my perspective one of the most concerning issues was a lack of understanding about what palliative care is and assumptions that it is on some level the same as euthanasia.
palliverse.com 