Today, Saturday 14 October is World Hospice and Palliative Care Day (WHPCD), a unified day of action shining a spotlight on the importance of community.
In celebration of WHPC Day, Palliative Care NSW would like to highlight the diversity of health professionals, volunteers and informal care networks that make up the palliative care teams that are supporting people with life-limiting illnesses and their families around NSW.
The theme for WHPCD 2023 is Compassionate Communities: Together for Palliative Care.
We encourage everyone to consider how you could start building connections in your own community. Connections that one day might support your family, your neighbour or someone you have never met when they are facing the end of their life.
What are Compassionate Communities and why are they important?
Compassionate Communities are those where everyone understands the importance of supporting each other in times of loss, ageing, dying and grief. These communities encourage respectful conversations and offer emotional and practical support to all. By providing palliative care, end-of-life care and bereavement support, Compassionate Communities contribute significantly to public health initiatives.
Compassionate communities care for people, assist people to live in the place they call home, connect people to services, raise awareness about end-of-life issues and develop the capacity of others in the community.
Palliative Care NSW recognises the role of community when supporting a person with a life-limiting illness as well as their family and carers.
Palliative Care is everyone’s business.
PCNSW encourages communities across the state to start conversations about death and dying and consider what’s important at the end-of-life.
By raising awareness and developing social networks we can ensure there is equitable access to high quality palliative care for everyone who needs it.
Palliative Care Volunteers.
Palliative Care NSW is proud to support volunteers through our Volunteer Support Services Programme. Palliative care volunteers play a crucial role in providing support and companionship for those receiving end-of-life care, as well as their families and caregivers. The goal is to alleviate their distress during the dying, death, and bereavement process.
We are available to consult with organisations looking to introduce palliative care volunteering into their service, whether that be to reinvigorate an existing service or to build one from scratch.
We provide resources, education, and support to palliative care volunteers and volunteer services and work towards building capacity in the sector.
For more information about Volunteer Support Services Programme, please go to: https://volunteerhub.com.au/
If you would like to become a Palliative Care volunteer, please click on the following link for more information: https://volunteerhub.com.au/volunteers/about-volunteering/
We have several resources to support families and carers, healthcare workers and members of the community.
Please refer to links below for access:
Culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities’ resources:
https://palliativecarensw.org.au/non-english-language-palliative-care-resources/
Resources for healthcare professionals:
https://palliativecarensw.org.au/health-professionals/resources/
Resources for the community:
https://palliativecarensw.org.au/families-and-carers/resources/
