Why and how each of us can and should play a stronger role in supporting people who are caring, dying or grieving was the central theme of a keynote address by Professor Samar Aoun at the recent Oceanic Palliative Care conference in Sydney.
Professor Aoun is the Perron Institute Research Chair in Palliative Care at The University of Western Australia and an Adjunct Professor at La Trobe University. She co-founded and Chairs the South West Compassionate Communities Network in 2018, leads the Compassionate Connectors Program and is the 2023 WA Australian of the Year.
“For palliative care to be accessible to everyone and everywhere, the community needs to be an equal partner in providing quality health care, leading to better quality of life and better quality of death,” Professor Samar told her audience.
“Research indicates that a solely clinical model of palliative care is inadequate to address the complex aspects of death, dying, loss and grief,” she said.
“Latest statistics show that palliative care-related hospitalisations have increased at double the rate of other hospital admissions.
“Most Australians are still dying in hospital, although for many people, that is not their preference at end of life.
“There needs to be a shift, with specialist and generalist palliative care, civic organisations and community networks collaborating to create an effective, inclusive, affordable and sustainable end-of-life care system.
“For a good death to be the norm rather than the exception, we need to affect system change.
“Adopting a Compassionate Communities approach helps create a sustainable and affordable culture of care and support. It recognises that it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure that when caregiving, dying and grieving knock at our door – wherever we are, and whoever we are – compassionate support will be found in all aspects of our lives and deaths.
“We now have evidence that the Compassionate Communities Connector Program reduces social isolation and hospital admissions, and so ultimately more people can die according to their values and their choices,” Professor Aoun said.
The three-day conference hosted by Palliative Care Australia attracted some 1400 delegates and featured over 215 speakers.
In advocating for a person-centred approach to the end of life, Professor Aoun focuses on under-served groups such as those with motor neurone disease and dementia, people who are terminally ill and live alone, and those caring for a loved one.
Her work mobilises and equips people to better support those living with a life limiting illness and those who are grieving.