Director’s Report by Yeshe Khadro
In 2005-06 Karuna Hospice Services provided free “at home” palliative care for 277 families in Brisbane and the Caboolture region, with approximately 50 families being cared for at any one time. Services included home visits from specialist palliative care nurses with 24 hour on-call access, carer education, the loan of home nursing equipment, professional emotional and spiritual support as well as companionship and family support by trained volunteers.The heart of this educative model of care is compassion and I would like to thank the staff and volunteers for the significant role they played in providing these services.
This past year Karuna also responded to requests relating to life limiting illness, dying and loss which did not require palliative care. Emotional and spiritual support was given via phone, home visits and where possible by visiting Karuna’s office in Windsor. People also had access to formal and informal group support coordinated by Karuna’s staff and volunteers.
As a community service specializing in life limiting illness and loss Karuna was able to offer day and week long student placements for nurses, counsellors and General Practitioners. Also Karuna received a grant from the Commonwealth’s Department of Health and Ageing, to develop a Sustainable Nurse Education project aimed at providing registered nurses with the opportunity to train in palliative care in a community setting. The Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital (RBWH) and the Centre for Palliative Care Research and Education (CPCRE) have been significant partners in the project which has seen two Karuna nurses and two nurses from the Respiratory ward at RBWH undertake the training this year. Two exchanges for two week placements were also facilitated for the four nurse participants.
2006 also saw the introduction of a community education program aimed at equipping individuals and communities to face issues related to death and dying. Karuna’s education program is a ‘Whole of Life’ approach designed to help people to understand and grow through all life experiences, offering a framework for introducing the eventuality of death together with ways of viewing it in a more positive and accepting light.
A major achievement for Karuna this year was receiving a full four year accreditation following an organizational wide survey conducted by accreditation body, The Australian Council on Healthcare Standards.
Finally I would like to thank the Karuna staff and volunteers who offered their time this year to visit various community groups to provide information about palliative care and Karuna’s work. Karuna also thanks the Commonwealth Respite and Carelink Centre, and Multicultural Affairs Queensland and Department of the Premier and Cabinet, for funding the production of two information booklets this year, respectively Palliative Caring at Home and Cultural Perspectives on Death. These booklets have been circulated to over 10,000 people throughout Queensland.
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