A CALL TO ACTION – COMPASSIONATE COMMUNITIES
When: 12:00am
The Hospice is keen to embrace Compassionate Communities and looks forward to working with the WA Primary Health Alliance (WAPHA) and other stakeholders in building a stronger and more resilient community that can care for their own.
“Care for one another is the only sane basis of human society. Kindness to our family and friends, our neighbors and our community members is the true basis for quality in life, as well as quality of life. Individuals have a responsibility to the people around them, and Compassionate Communities call on us all to respect this responsibility. This means turning away from violence and oppression as a solution to problems. It insists that difficulties must be resolved by a commitment to dialogue and cooperation underpinned by human kindness.”
https://www.resurgence.org/magazine/article5069-a-manifesto-for-compassionate-communities.html
A project in Frome, UK, that has embraced a compassionate communities approach is tackling the connection between loneliness and ill health. The result has been a 17% cut in emergency hospital admissions.
https://www.resurgence.org/magazine/article5039-compassionate-community-project.html
WAPHA, through its Country Primary Health Network Great Southern, was selected as a recipient of Commonwealth funding to pilot new initiative under the Greater Choice for At Home Palliative Care budget measure announced by the Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt last year http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/greater-choice-home-palliative-care-measure-faq
The principal aim of the project is to improve coordination and integration of end of life care across primary, secondary, tertiary and community health services This will be achieved by supporting at home palliative care and building community and organisational capacity, social capital and community empowerment. to create supportive environments for individuals around death, dying and loss.
There are two key positions for this project, the Compassionate Communities Capacity Builder and the Compassionate Communities Project Officer, the latter being located within the City of Albany LGA. These roles will work closely with regional LGAs, community organisations, health services and local communities to develop sustainable, collaborative end of life care.
Over the 2.5-year funding period the project will achieve its aim to establish Compassionate Communities in the Great Southern through:
- Promoting grief and loss as a normal part of life
- Supporting individual and community health planning for end of life
- Increasing the death literacy of health professionals, community organisations and individuals
- Facilitating formal and informal care networks
- Enhancing social capital
The Great Southern has the benefit of established, highly skilled and respected Palliative care specialists, a community hospice, a strong volunteering culture and healthy end of life advocates who are committed to improving the way we experience death, dying and loss. WAPHA Great Southern PHN look forward to collaborating with other regions and programs throughout the project journey as we continue to build on our collective impact in creating stronger connected communities. Updates on the Greater Choice for at Home Palliative Care project will be communicated through a page to the developed on the WAPHA web page www.wapha.org.au