Thursdays@3 - podcast & video series
Welcome to the last Thursdays@3 episode of Season 2!
Today, a deep dive into the Healthy End of Life Program or HELP for short run out of La Trobe University’s Public Health Palliative Care Unit.
HELP’s mission is to develop a collaborative end-of-life culture to meet people’s health and social needs – tapping into the capacity of community networks to add weight to care of health professionals and meeting the needs of palliative care patients and their families.
The HELP App which has launched in the last year is just part of the scaffolding around the program.
Dr Andrea Grindrod, is the Director of the Public Health Palliative Care Unit at La Trobe and brings professional and very personal perspectives to her work and leadership of the HELP program.
Andrea will be at the Oceanic Palliative Care Conference next week in Sydney but is keen to start a conversation with you now.
Click play to learn more about ‘network centred care’.
Listen to the episode on Spotify.
You will find advice, tools, and support with ‘matters of life and death’ at the Palliative Care Australia website where you can also make a donation to support our work.
Today we chat to Juliane Samara, a specialist palliative care Nurse Practitioner who works for Canberra Health Service as part of the Community Aged Care Service run out of Clare Holland House.
In 2019 Juliane won the National Palliative Care “Emerging Leader” Award and the ACT Nursing and Midwifery Excellence in Clinical Practice Award.
She has written for The Guardian Australia and on Twitter she publishes under the handle – Unravelled Nurse, and early this year was one of the faces of National Palliative Care Week.
Most importantly, in her almost 20 year career, Juliane reckons she has looked after thousands of dying people in aged care.
Juliane will be at the Oceanic Palliative Care Conference next month in Sydney, but press play to meet her now.
You can listen to the episode on Spotify.
For advice, tools, and support with ‘maters of life and death’ explore the Palliative Care Australia website.
You can support our work by making a donation HERE.
Welcome to Thursdays@3 our regular series of conversations with people living and working at the end of life.
Today, a rock star of palliative care, Dr Hsien Seow!
As the Research Chair in Palliative Care and Health System Innovation at McMaster University, Canada, Hsien is focused on innovating health systems and improving quality of care.
He will be in Australia next month for the Oceanic Palliative Care Conference, his time in Sydney for 23OPCC also coincides with the release of his book ‘Hope for the best plan for the rest’. Co-authored with Dr Sammy Winemaker, the book is a guide for patients and families facing a life-changing diagnosis.
In the meantime, Hsien’s wisdom is available in his long running podcast series The Waiting Room Revolution.
Hsien’s passion is driven by his family’s deeply personal story and his mum’s end of life experience with breast cancer.
Click play to join this lively conversation.
The 2023 Oceanic Palliative Care Conference runs 13 to 15 September in Sydney, registrations are open now.
You will find advice, tools, and support at the Palliative Care Australia website where you can also make a donation to support our work.
Today, we continue an earlier conversation with our friends at ELDAC – End of Life Directions for Aged Care.
The Aged Care Royal Commission and the current reform agenda from the federal government makes it clear that older Australians need and deserve better end of life experiences.
When we last spoke to ELDAC, we heard about the role that aged care providers need to play and the tools and supports ELDAC offers, we take that further today looking at some of the technology available to support this important work and we look at the role that primary health can play in the delivery of palliative care and end of life care.
Shaping that conversation is Naomi Sheridan a Policy Analyst at the Australian Healthcare and Hospitals Association, and Dr Priyanka Vandersman, a Research Fellow with ELDAC and at the Research Centre for Palliative Care, Death and Dying at Flinders University.
Click play to dive deeper into the tools and thinking empowering better end of life care for older Australians, and explore the ELDAC website to access those resources, including the Home Care App and Self Care Room – it’s all free.
You will find further advice, tools, and support with ‘matters of life and death’ at the Palliative Care Australia website where you can also make a donation to support our work.
Welcome to Thursdays@3 our regular series of conversations with people living and working at the end of life.
Earlier this year, Josphine Lokai graduated as a Registered Nurse from the University of Canberra. She currently works at Clare Holland House, a Specialist Palliative Care Service based in Canberra.
She moved to Australia from Kenya in 2017 with a real fire in her heart and soul following the death of her eldest son Arnold a decade ago.
Her graduation in April this year was a real milestone in her life, but as you are about to discover, Josphine has other dreams to achieve.
Press play to share in her amazing story of life and death.
Listen to the episode on Spotify.
You will find advice, tools, and support with ‘matters of life and death’ at the Palliative Care Australia website where you can also make a donation to support our work.
Spiritual care is such an integral component of palliative care – which is perhaps unique in the field of medicine and health care.
Today, ahead of her workshop this September at the Oceanic Palliative Care Conference in Sydney, we chat to the CEO of the Spiritual Health Association – Cheryl Holmes.
Listen to the episode on Spotify.
OPCC registrations are open now, you can beat the August 18 price rise HERE and explore the full program.
PCA and the Spiritual Health Association worked together on free, online spiritual care training, check it out HERE.
You will find advice, tools, and support with ‘matters of life and death’ at the Palliative Care Australia website where you can also make a donation to support our work.
Today we meet Professor Dorothy Keefe, who has been the CEO of Cancer Australia – the Australian Government’s cancer care agency, since 2019.
Before that, Dorothy was Professor of Cancer Medicine at the University of Adelaide and a Senior Medical Oncologist at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
In addition to her work as a medical oncologist, Dorothy is also an expert on the toxicity of cancer treatment and a tireless advocate for cancer patients and healthcare reform.
And this September in Sydney, Dorothy will be one of our presenters at the Oceanic Palliative Care Conference.
The title of her talk is ‘The Cancer Plan and Palliative Care’. Click play to get a sneak peak and learn so much more.
Listen to the episode on Spotify.
OPCC registrations are open now, explore the program and beat the August 18 price rise – HERE.
You will find advice, tools, and support at the Palliative Care Australia website where you can also make a donation to support our work.
Welcome to Thursdays at 3 our regular series of conversations with people living and working at the end of life.
Today we meet Professor David Currow, who you might already know through his long career in cancer care and research and palliative care.
David is currently a Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Wollongong.
He is the former Chief Cancer Officer for New South Wales and former Chief Executive Officer of the Cancer Institute of NSW.
Before that, he was the foundation Chief Executive Officer of Cancer Australia, the Australian Government’s cancer control agency.
David is a previous president of Palliative Care Australia and, separately, the Clinical Oncological Society of Australia. In 2015, David received the Tom Reeve National Award for Outstanding Contribution to Cancer Care.
David co-founded the Australian National Palliative Care Outcomes Collaboration – a national data set for quality improvement in palliative care.
And this September in Sydney, David will be one of our presenters at the Oceanic Palliative Care Conference (OPCC).
Click play to get a sneak peek of his OPCC presentation – ‘The future of palliative care in the care economy’ while exploring his rich career.
Listen to the episode on Spotify.
David is one of 215 OPCC speakers, explore the program and register now before the August 18 price rise – HERE.
You will find advice, tools, and support ‘with matters of life and death’ at the Palliative Care Australia website where you can also make a donation to support our work.
The Aged Care Royal Commission made 12 recommendations pointing to the need for palliative care and dementia care to be better understood and better integrated into aged care services.
Today we hear from three people chipping away at that work through ELDAC – End of Life Directions for Aged Care.
Deb Parker, Professor of Aged Care and Dementia Nursing at the University of Technology, Sydney and a key contributor to the ELDAC project.
Rebecca Moore from the Queensland University of Technology, and Project Coordinator with ELDAC’s Linkages Program.
Ammu Chandran, Clinical Nurse at Sundale at Palmwoods in Queensland. Sundale is a community based, not for profit aged care provider offering care in a range of settings.
Click play to join the conversation and learn of the tools and supports available to do palliative care and dementia care better in aged care.
Listen to the episode on Spotify.
Everything referred to is free and available now via the ELDAC website.
You will find more advice, tools, and support with ‘matters of life and death’ at the Palliative Care Australia website where you can also make a donation to support our work.
Welcome to Thursdays at 3 our regular series of conversations with people living and working at the end of life.
Exploring the culture of Australia’s First People is something we are always interested in, but especially so during NAIDOC Week – an annual celebration of the culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People.
Today, we do that through the work and wisdom of Tanya Quinn, an Aboriginal Health Worker in paediatric palliative care and chronic and complex needs at the Sydney Children’s Hospital Network.
Click play to join the conversation as Tanya shares her story of cultural awareness and connection to the spirit world.
Thank you for tuning into Thursdays@3, you will find advice, tools, and support with ‘matters of life and death’ at the Palliative Care Australia website where you can also make a donation to support our work.
Welcome to Thursdays at 3 our regular series of conversations with people living and working at the end of life.
Today, we hear from a doctor with over 30 years experience in palliative care – Dr Jo Doran!
Jo currently works for the Gold Coast Hospital and Health Service as a senior consultant and is also an Honorary Adjunct Assistant Professor at Bond University’s Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine.
Originally from the UK, she trained in London and completed her post graduate training at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney, before heading to Northern NSW where she was Area Medical Director of Palliative Care for 13 years.
As an advocate and champion for palliative care, Jo was a co-author on the first National Standards for Palliative Care, and Palliative Care Service Development Models, both documents continue to underpin palliative care service delivery in Australia today.
In recognition of her contribution to palliative care she has been awarded the Palliative Care NSW Leadership Award by her peers, was nominated for NSW Woman of the Year, and more recently was nominated as Mentor of the Year in her current role.
Her greatest love however has always been the bedside care of patients and teaching, which is now the main focus of her work.
This September Jo will also MC the biggest palliative care conference in the Southern Hemisphere – the Oceanic Palliative Care Conference in Sydney, with around 1000 delegates attending.
Click play and join a conversation that explores the wisdom, work and warmth of Dr Jo Doran.
Listen on Spotify.
Registrations are open now for the Oceanic Palliative Care Conference, get your ticket HERE.
For advice, tools, and support with ‘maters of life and death’ explore the Palliative Care Australia website.
You can support our work by making a donation HERE.
Thank you for listening.
Thursdays at 3 is back for another round of conversations with people living and working at the end of life.
In this episode we hear from someone who has experienced both through the death of her husband Derek in 2019 and today as the CEO of a charity shaping family friendly end of life options.
Derek died in August of 2019 after a 23 month battle with aggressive brain cancer – he was just one month short of his 36th birthday.
Click play to meet his wife Natasha Welsh and hear of their family’s experience and the legacy Natasha is now helping to shape.
You will find advice, tools, and support for ‘matters of life and death’ at the Palliative Care Australia website and to support Natasha and the vision she has for Derek’s Place click HERE.
Natasha is also a member of PCA’s National Register of Palliative Care Consumers and Carers group, and can be engaged for advice through PCA.
Join us as we open up the conversation about the last taboo – death and dying. We know it’s a difficult conversation to have with yourself and your loved ones, but it’s a crucial and empowering one to have.
Thursdays@3 is our new podcast & video series, where we’ll be talking to experts from the field and people living and working at the end of life. Whether you’re someone who works in palliative care, have a loved one going through palliative care, are bereaved, or if you’re the one living with a life limiting illness this podcast is for you.
In our first episode, listen to a pioneer of modern palliative care in Australia, the NSW Senior Australian of the Year 2023 – Teresa Plane.
From opening a hospice and palliative care unit at Mt Carmel Hospital in Western Sydney in 1978 to launching a home care program, Teresa continues advocating and volunteering as she approaches 90 years, and in this conversation reflects on what she has learnt about life and death along the way. You are in the presence of greatness as you click play; prepare to go on a journey.
You can also listen to it on Spotify now!
In episode 2 of our new video and podcast series Thursdays@3, listen to Prof Samar Aoun, Western Australia’s Australian of the Year 2023, as she shares with us that spark that started her passion for palliative care and reflects on her own Australian story as a migrant from Lebanon.
Samar advocates for a person-centred approach to the end of life.
She focuses on under-served groups such as those with motor neurone disease (MND) and dementia, people who are terminally ill and live alone, and those caring for a loved one.
She wears many hats – the Perron Institute Research Chair in Palliative Care at The University of Western Australia and Adjunct Professor at La Trobe University. She also co-founded the South West Compassionate Communities Network and leads the Compassionate Connectors Program.
As Samar says, “you only die once so make it a good one”. You can also listen to the podcast version on Spotify.
In this episode meet Victorian based palliative care physiotherapist and researcher – Rachel Coghlan.
In reflecting on her work as a physio in palliative care, Rachel talks about supporting people to get outside and walk, garden, breath fresh air, and keep fulfilling their life goals as they face death. She says, “How I get them there is physiotherapy, why I get them there is palliative care.”
Through the Centre for Humanitarian Leadership at Deakin University, Rachel is also exploring the delivery of palliative care during times of emergency and crises, with a focus on communities experiencing armed conflict. She has just returned from war torn Gaza in the Middle East as part of her PhD studies and seen the power of community first hand.
Hit play to get a better understanding of the wisdom and work of Rachel Coghlan.
You can also listen to the podcast version on Spotify.
In this episode we launch online training that aims to highlight the power of spirituality in the delivery of health and palliative care and support the health professionals and spiritual care practitioners who do this work.
Reflecting on their own experiences, we hear from South Australia’s Sara Fleming, a Nurse Practitioner, who comes to this conversation with a 23-year career in palliative care. And Luke Bowen, Chair of the Spiritual Health Association. Luke is also Director of Patient Safety, Experience and Clinical Excellence and Director of Medical Workforce at Austin Health, Victoria.
There was a time when spiritual care was overlooked or not seen as an important part of someone’s health care but as Sara and Luke suggest, “that’s an attitude that just won’t be tolerated in the future.”
All health professionals, working in any care setting are encouraged to better understand spiritual care, not only for the people and families in their care, but for their own wellbeing.
The first of four modules in this free online training is called “The Essence of Spiritual Care” and is the perfect place to start – HERE
But first, click play and join the Thursdays@3 conversation with Sara Fleming and Luke Bowen.
In this episode, we head to regional Queensland, dropping in on Fraser Coast Hospice a community run six bed purpose-built facility, south of Bundaberg at Hervey Bay; K’gari, formally known as Fraser Island, is not far away.
As with any community led initiative, there is a lot of heart and soul that went into making Fraser Coast Hospice a reality, not to mention the heart and soul that makes up the support they offer people with life-limiting illness and their family and friends, during the last months, weeks, and days of life.
“We create the normality that people have at home – we have the laughter and the tears,” says Director of Care, Alicia Trimingham-Turl.
“We have a balance between life and living it till the very end, but also that respect for the loss of very loved people.”
Click play to join the conversation. You can also listen to the episode on Spotify.
In this episode we meet Sallie Fredericks, a Registered Nurse who has worked in palliative care in the Illawarra region of NSW for over thirty years. For the last 10 years Sallie has worked exclusively in aged care as a Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Consultant and is currently a Nurse Educator for a local aged care service.
“I work with amazing people, it actually makes me emotional to think about the people I work with every day, they are such an amazing, resilient group of people,” Sallie says.
Click play to hear more from Sallie as she talks about the need to make palliative care an embedded practise in aged care, the need for palliative care training for nurses, doctors and allied health professionals, and her reflections on what death has taught her about life.
Listen to the episode on Spotify.
In this episode we drop in on regional NSW and the central west town of Orange, where one family’s experience with serious illness has led to a new online business that helps families gather and store memories, plan funeral arrangements and leave a final message for loved ones.
Bec McLaurin’s professional background is in HR but time with her kids and an experience with family illness has led to ‘MyFarvel.com’
Bec believes making a plan for the end of life, discussing funeral arrangements, and even leaving a message for loved ones is the work of now – the work of the living, and established MyFarvel to help families do just that.
Bec’s website is one of a range of tools that support end of life conversations and planning, but her families experience highlights the joy and strength that can come from what might a confronting process at first.
Click play to join the conversation. Listen on Spotify.
In this episode we chat to the 2022 Nurse Practitioner of the Year no less – Peter Jenkin.
Peter’s nursing career and commitment to palliative care starts well before last year’s award from the Australian College of Nurse Practitioners.
For 11 years, and only up until recently he was a Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner for Resthaven aged care in South Australia. However, in early 2023, Peter moved to Canberra to take up a position with Calvary Health Care as a Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner working in aged care and at the ACT’s hospice, Clare Holland House.
With aged care and health reform more broadly high on the Government’s agenda, Peter has some clear advice on how Nurse Practitioners can be better utilised to deliver quality of life but is strident in his view that “palliative care should be everyone’s business.”
Click play to join this lively conversation with a palliative care leader. Listen to this episode on Spotify.
You’ll find more information and support at the Palliative Care Australia website, including PCA’s submission on the strategic plan for the nurse practitioner workforce.
With over forty years’ experience in nursing our guest today, Rose Sexton has seen a thing or two! Her passion for palliative and end of life care emerged early, with active interest in Oncology nursing.
She completed post graduate studies in palliative care in 2011 and currently works for Northeast Health in Wangaratta, Victoria, in community palliative care.
Alongside these health-related passions, she is, at heart, a musician and actress. With Salvation Jane, the four-piece acapella group she founded over 30 years ago, she happily sings about dying and going to heaven! Salvation Jane will play at the National Folk Festival in Canberra over Easter.
Rose has also had personal experience in caring for her husband through his end-of-life journey in 2019.
Press play to join the conversation or listen to it on Spotify.
Useful links for this conversation:
If you’d like to support the work of Palliative Care Australia, please consider making a donation.
A special episode this Thursday (23 March) to mark Advance Care Planning Week.
“Advance care planning is something that unfolds over a lifetime,” says Dr Will Cairns, a palliative medicine specialist with decades of experience.
Will is currently Consultant Emeritus Palliative Medicine at Townsville University Hospital and Associate Professor, James Cook University.
This Thursday@3 Will reflects on his professional and personal experience with Advance Care Planning, “the normalisation of death is a really important part of learning how to deal with the realities and limits of health care,” he says.
Tune in via Spotify or watch the video below. For further advice on the requirements in your State or Territory visit the Advance Care Planning website.
