End of life care is a stage of life which affects the lives of all involved –the families, the carers, the healthcare workers, the patients, of course, and all those in the community that support them…
The Room 64 podcast – now in its third year - tells these stories and we thoroughly recommend you listening into this insightful series proudly produced locally with our local community in mind.
This year the Barwon Health Foundation has come on board as a proud sponsor of the Room 64 podcast and we can’t speak more highly of the team, including Christine Brooks and Jen Walsh who put it all together.
Room 64 has a unique message focus of “seeing the person”, not the illness. Whilst the patient accessing palliative care might be in “Room 64” it is the stories and experiences that go on in that space that matter the most. Stories that can be sad, happy, full of love, grief, laughter, or silence, stories of life and death, learning, and even anger and fear. It is these stories that are used in the Room 64 podcast to promote discussion and further conversation.
“It’s vital that we help promote these conversations through our community of donors” says Barwon Health Foundation Philanthropy & Bequests Manager, Francis Trainor.
“This is just one way we can support the patients and incredible staff from our McKellar Palliative Care team”
“The Room 64 podcast provides our community with the opportunity to improve health literacy around death and dying, palliative care, grief and loss and through this connection enables the community to respond to the needs and wishes of the dying person, their families, friends, carers and the broader community.”
“By sharing the stories from within our community we hope to encourage open discussion and alleviate distress, build on the skills and capabilities of our community and raise awareness about supports available at end of life.”
A series of conversations are recorded by staff and/or volunteers with individuals that are willing to participate, patients, family members, carers, nurses, doctors, allied health staff, support staff and others in community that are impacted by or involved in the palliative care space.
The 2021 series will explore themes of palliative care for people experiencing homelessness, palliative care for people with a disability, and how the Palliative Care Program supports people from other marginalised communities.
Series 3, Episode 1 is released this week where Marilyn Dolling talks about the death of her husband Roger, their time in Barwon Health Palliative Care, the importance of family and the value of Advance Care Planning.
“….they’d do everything they could to fulfil the wishes in his Advanced Care Plan and the care would be all embracing support and keeping him in the best possible end to his life that he could have in a safe place”
The Room 64 podcast is currently available on ITunes, Spotify, Podchaser and has been “picked up” by Regional ABC Victoria, Vision Australia Adelaide, The Nurse Break, Palliative Care Victoria and Palliative Care Australia, The Senior, Palliative Care NSW.
