National Palliative Care Week
National Palliative Care Week, 22-28 May is an annual awareness raising week organised by Palliative Care Australia. The theme for this year is 'Living Well with Chronic Illness'. The theme addresses the need for people with advanced chronic illness to be able to access palliative care.
Research shows that the overall use and awareness of palliative care services in culturally and linguistically diverse communities is low. Discussing illness, death and dying can often trigger strong emotions and feelings with people who speak languages other than English as they face disadvantaged due to lack of awareness of health services in general and lack of knowledge about palliative care services. Staff who provide palliative care services may also lack confidence and skills in assessing and delivering palliative care services to people whose language they do not share.
Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing has produced a Palliative Care Practice Guide and Palliative Care Victoria has translated information about palliative care in a number of community languages. Effective communication can be facilitated through use of language services. TIS National is funded to support the aged care sector with assessments, care planning and service reviews.
For further information contact the Centre for Cultural Diversity in Ageing team: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or (03) 8823 7979