Opinion Articles

SOUL MATTERS: Though dying, people are still engaged in life
By Deborah O'Connor

At any one time in Australia 77,000 people are living with a terminal illness. Each of these people has family and friends who are also affected by their illness. Dying and death are more than biological events however, and for all of us there is a social and spiritual dimension. Our social environment, along with our spiritual, religious or philosophical beliefs have the potential to affect how we relate to the prospect of our own death as well as the deaths of others.

Palliative care is care and support provided for someone living with a terminal illness. This care also extends to family and caregivers. The goal of palliative care is to improve quality of life by addressing the physical, emotional, social, cultural and spiritual needs of patients, family and caregivers. While we can hand specialised care over to health professionals, it is necessary to consider how we can contribute on an individual and community level to the quality of life of the person living with a terminal illness.

Palliative Care Australia has recently launched a National Community Education Initiative – Make a Difference…when someone you know is living with a terminal illness. Part of this initiative is the website www.livingcaringworking.com

This website provides an important information resource about palliative care in the context of the workplace and the community. The living-caring-working website assists in understanding the experiences of work colleagues and provides tips on creating a supportive work environment. The website also provides a general source of information to assist all of us in a clearer understanding about palliative care and about the impact terminal illness may have on those around us. This understanding enables us to make a positive difference in our interactions with people living with a terminal illness and their carers.

Within our community and in our everyday lives, comfort with issues around dying and death can affect our ability to interact in a meaningful way with those we love. By developing and strengthening positive personal and community attitudes and responses to dying and death, loss and grief, we can be truly present to the person with a terminal illness, and open in our responses to their needs. Feeling comfortable with what to say, how to behave, developing an understanding of what the person might want or need, allows us to engage in meaningful contact. In this way we contribute by our everyday actions in improving the social and spiritual wellbeing of these people, rather than adding to the burden of their illness with our own fears.

Making a difference to someone living with a terminal illness not only benefits the dying person, but their community as well. A community that acknowledges those living with dying, accepts them as part of the group, and contributes to their care and wellbeing in a meaningful way, is a community engaging in life.

Deborah O'Connor
Deborah O’Connor is Area Clinical Nurse Consultant in Palliative Care at the Calvary Mater Hospital, Newcastle.