On August 8 Dying to Know Day raised awareness about end-of-life planning by encouraging open discussions about death and helping individuals make informed decisions about their end-of-life preferences.
Palliative Care NSW supported and presented at different events happening around NSW, ensuring that people were made aware of what palliative care is, how to access it, and the importance of advance care planning.
On the morning of Wednesday 7 August, PCNSW CEO Kirsty Blades, attended and presented at the Dying to Know Day event at Shellharbour Civic Centre Auditorium. With the theme Let’s talk about Death and dying, the event created a space for the community to be informed around death and dying and talk about it in a safe environment.
This event was presented in collaboration with COORDINARE – South Eastern NSW PHN and industry experts.
This event included a panel discussion with a diverse range of panellists, from the local palliative care team, to funeral directors, grief and bereavement counsellors, seniors rights and carers’ advocates, end-of-life doulas, and VAD practitioners. The diverse panel led to diverse questions, reflective of the many questions the community can have about this topic. Kirsty also introduced a screening of “Live the Life you Please”, which was well received.
That evening, Kirsty also attended the Dying to Know Day event at Margaret Whitlam Recreational Centre in Bondi: Give Life to Your End of Life.
The event involved a presentation from Dr Linda Sheahan, SESLHD, and Q&A, around end-of-life planning. PCNSW had a display stand with resources available for community members.
Allegra Spender MP for Wentworth and other prominent community members joined the event, including Costa Georgiadis who recently featured in the St Vincent’s docuseries on SBS. Costa has a keen interest in this space, which is great to see.
This event was held thanks to the Randwick and Waverley Council, South Eastern Sydney Local Health District, Metropolitan Memorial Parks and Central and Eastern Sydney Primary Health Network.
Thursday 8 August, Kirsty attended and presented ay the Dying to Know Day event at Newport: Demystifying Death.
The community was brought together to demystify death and dying. They opened up on the difficult and often avoided end of life conversations. They looked at beliefs, and explored how they could improve the relationship with their own mortality.
This event was hosted by Full Circle End of Life Matters. Again a diverse range of presenters provided quality information for all attending including Anne Kubiak, Full Circle End of Life Matters, Dr Stephen Ginsborg, Compassionate Communities Australia, Penny Hackett, Dying with Dignity and Karin Slade, Funerals by Design.
This event was strongly supported by the community with over 120 people in attendance – a fantastic turn out!
While Kirsty was attending the event at Newport, the PCNSW team was in attendance of the Dying to Know Day Expo, hosted by South West Sydney LHD at the Yagoona Community Centre, and attended by over 200 community members.
Peta McVey, Palliative Care Guidance Manager; Emma Scott-Stevenson, Project and Research Coordinator; Kate Bowman, Manager of the Volunteer Services Support Program and Maria Lopez, Communications Officer; engaged with this diverse and vibrant multicultural community, delivering information in different languages to inform the community about what Palliative Care is and how they can find the services for their specific needs.
From Advance Care Directive booklets to ‘What Matters Most’ cards, as well as the Palliative Caring Booklet and flyers explaining what palliative care is, the community received a wealth of information to help them have meaningful conversations about their preferences and choices if they were diagnosed with a life-limiting illness or were at the end of their life.
Here is a visual summary of these activities and events: