Palliative care is your right
The theme of this year’s National Palliative Care Week (NPCW); “Palliative Care It’s your right”, seeks to raise awareness about the rights of all Australians to access high-quality palliative care when and where they need it.
Acknowledging that palliative care is a universal human right, this year’s theme seeks to broaden the community’s perceptions, understanding and appreciation of palliative care, demonstrating its role in supporting the physical, emotional, spiritual and social needs of people living with a life-limiting illness, their families and their care team.
NPCW, from May 22-28, is Australia’s largest annual awareness-raising initiative to increase understanding of the many benefits of palliative care; that with adequate access to timely palliative care, people with a life-limiting illness are able to keep doing what they love with friends and family.
Each year, NPCW is also an opportunity to highlight and celebrate the work of not only hundreds of palliative care specialists and palliative care nurses, but also the support provided by general practitioners, volunteers, allied health professionals, community workers and everyone who works within the palliative care sector.
What is palliative care?
Palliative care is specialised care and support that is provided for someone living with a life threatening or life limiting illness. The commencement of palliative care does not mean end of treatment, it is a form of active care, the treatment and caring of a patient continues with the main goal of any palliative care plan to improve the quality of life for both patients and their carers and loved ones throughout, addressing many needs such as: physical (including treatment of pain and other symptoms), emotional, social, cultural and spiritual.SHDH’s Community Palliative Care Service
The Swan Hill Community Palliative Care service is a nurse-led team which liaises closely with GPs, medical and radiation oncologists, palliative care physicians, nurse practitioners, allied health teams and many other health professionals. Swan Hill Community Palliative Care also supports our entire region and beyond. The service covers the Swan Hill Rural City Council excluding the township of Robinvale; the Shire of Gannawarra, excluding the township of Cohuna; and the Buloke Shire without any exclusions. The catchment area that Swan Hill Community Palliative Care covers includes eight hospitals, 12 Residential Aged Care Facilities and 11 GP clinics.
Swan Hill Community Palliative Care works in collaboration with the Loddon Mallee Regional Specialist Palliative Care Consultancy Service. This service is comprised of a palliative care physician and a nurse practitioner who run a clinic in Swan Hill every four weeks. A clinic is also run in Kerang every four weeks. Consultations are provided to support complex symptom management and anticipatory care.
“Palliative care is available to people with a serious and life-limiting illness and their families, to assist in managing their symptoms, improve their quality of life and help them to live as well as possible, for as long as possible,” said Merridee Taverna, SHDH’s Nurse Unit Manager, Community Palliative Care Services.
The Palliative Care team at SHDH have a deep understanding of the difficult situations people near the end of their life or with a life-limiting illness often face.
“They can be instrumental in balancing a variety of perspectives and incorporating the psychological, social, and spiritual concerns of patients, their families and the staff caring for them. They are also there to support the loved ones of people near the end of their life and help them live through their grief and bereavement.”
If you, or someone you know would like to get in contact with our Palliative Care team, you can contact them on 03 5033 9236.
For more information about National Palliative Care Week in May, visit: https://palliativecare.org.au/event/national-palliative-care-week-2022/
