Wimmera Health Care Group’s (WHCG) Palliative Care team marked National Palliative Care Week with a health professional’s breakfast last week. Thirty nine people from across the WHCG attended the breakfast, and were joined via video link by participants in Ararat, Ballarat and Bacchus Marsh. 

Melanie Hahne, Coordinator of Wimmera Hospice Care, said that National Palliative Care Week recognises the people who work in palliative care and the quality care they provide to people with a life limiting illness, their families and carers. 

“Palliative care is everyone’s business. No matter whether you’re a partner, a parent, a child, a friend or loved one, or a health professional, National Palliative Care Week is a chance to start a conversation on how we would like to spend the end of our lives.

“We spoke about advanced care places at the breakfast, and how important it is for people to think about how they would like to be cared for at the end of their life.

“Palliative Care is supporting people with life limiting illnesses. We care for many people with cancer, but also illnesses such as heart failure, lung failure, motor neurone disease and other conditions for which there is no medical cure.

“We have four nurses on the Palliative Care Team here at Wimmera Health Care Group, and we care for around 110 people each year across the region. We also provide bereavement support for families in the 12 months after someone has died,” she said.

A recent survey conducted by Palliative Care Australia found that while 82% of people said it was important or very important to have plans in place should anything unfortunate happen to them, just 5% of respondents have made an advance care plan. 

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