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16 Guidelines for a Happy Life

Published

karuna

on April 29, 2008

in Courses and Events

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Dates for 2009 offering of this course to be advised shortly.

“Where is the real happiness in our lives? Have we lost touch with what it means and how to find it?”

The 16 Guidelines are universal, powerful, and infinitely adaptable. Drawn from ancient Tibetan wisdom they focus on key strategies which will be covered over the following two weekend workshops:

Part 1: How we think & How we act
Part 2: How we relate to others & How we find meaning

mebeli

Each weekend looks at a two key strategy and covers eight of the Guidelines. They include step by step exercises to use in your life, allowing you to measure your own progress towards greater happiness and wellbeing. This course is ideal for anyone looking to make genuine progress on their path to a more fulfilling life.

It is not essential to attend both weekends as each workshop covers separate strategies and Guidelines. However, by attending each workshop you will gain maximum benefit through working with all 16 Guidelines.

The workshops will be relaxed and informal, encouraging questions and discussions, facilitated by Buddhist nun Tenzin Chonyi.

About the facilitator
Tenzin Chonyi (Dr Diana Taylor) is a qualified psychologist with many years of professional experience. She teaches courses which demonstrate how ancient techniques can be applied in the modern world with powerful results. Chonyi is a Buddhist nun in the Tibetan tradition.

Cost: $150 per weekend, $220 full course
Time: 10am - 4pm each day
Place: Karuna House, 27 Cartwright St, Windsor

photo by Daniel K. Gebhart, under the creative commons licence

Morning and afternoon tea will be provided - Please bring your lunch.

Download pdf flyer.

Acknowledgement of Funding Support for Karuna

Published

karuna

on April 8, 2008

in Community

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Karuna’s recent computer upgrade to a terminal server allowing additional computer support was proudly funded by the Queensland Government’s Gambling Community Benefit Fund.

Also, the recent upgrade to our office phone system was generously supported by Jupiters Casino Community Benefit Fund.

Karuna would like to thank all the community for its continued support and all the help that goes towards providing a better home hospice service for community.

Download Karuna News, Summer/Autumn 2008

Published

karuna

on April 7, 2008

in Community and Downloads

. 0 Comments

Please click the image to download the full pdf version of our Summer/Autumn newsletter for 2008.

My St Patrick’s Day Dinner Experience

Published

karuna

on April 1, 2008

in Community

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It was the first St Patrick’s Day dinner I had attended as a volunteer or otherwise, and it was a fun night… as Nev Wells said… he likes to give the punters value for money and it was that indeed…

Kay and Veronica were there for Karuna, as was Frank Curran, current president of the Knights of the Southern Cross, Everton Park Branch (the organisers). Many remarked on the delicious food (truly a St Patricks day feast… including Guiness Pie), and the efficiency of the volunteer waiting staff!!

Nev Wells (Branch Secretary) is a true entertainer, telling stories, jokes, singing and running many raffles as well. On top of this we were delighted by Irish dancing and the wonderful singing of Sue Wighton.

The Knights of the Southern Cross have been running St Patrick’s Day dinners for Karuna for 8 years now and have raised over $30,000 for us.

This is an extraordinary achievement and we are very grateful for this ongoing support.

Sally Dudgeon (Community Liaison).

Hospice, Care and Palliation in the 21st Century

Published

karuna

on March 17, 2008

in Articles

. 1 Comment

Hospice as a philosophy or value was first applied to a national health service by Dame Cecily Saunders who in the 1960s started a revolution in the care and treatment of the terminally ill. As a young doctor Cecily Saunders undertook to change the plight of cancer patients who were dying in hospital wards where staff were preoccupied with curative treatment. At the time of Saunders’ reform in care of the dying, cancer patients often suffered aggressive treatment almost to the point of death.

Throughout history the term hospice has been synonymous with devotion,kindness, compassion and caring, values that aligned perfectly with Cecily Saunders’ proposed model of total care for the terminally ill.

During the forty and more years since Dame Cecily first challenged the health care system to take better care of the terminally ill, the values of hospice have evolved into the science of palliation. Palliation is a useful term because while hospice defines the philosophy palliation describes the practice.

Palliative care was suggested by another hospice pioneer, Professor Balfour Mount from Canada, because the Latin and Greek meaning of palliation is to cloak or cover and some say to shield. Thus palliative care means to cloak or minimise the symptoms of advanced disease while at the same time shielding the patients and their loved ones from unnecessary harm caused by the situation.

Care and Caring

A distinguishing feature of the modern hospice movement is the alignment of palliation with care. I believe it was Balfour Mount who asserted that without ‘care’, palliation lacks distinction. Without ‘care’ palliation would be a ‘no frills’ mechanical process of symptom management and body maintenance, with no acknowledgement of the effects on the human experience and relationships.

Karuna Hospice Services by its name is declaring a commitment to compassionate care that embraces the total dimension of the human experience dealing with serious illness and the end of life. Kindness, compassion and care are fundamental qualities and care-giving an essential skill of Karuna’s staff and services.

Care and care giving is always in danger of being devalued as no more than ‘common sense’ or something that ‘just comes naturally’. While it may be an innate human quality, caring for seriously ill and vulnerable people is an art requiring complex skills. There is a science of caring as demonstrated by the numerous studies on, for example the elements of a caring relationship, the qualities of good care givers and the effects of care deprivation on infant development.

Hospice-Palliative Care in the 21st century

An important responsibility of the modern hospice-palliative care movement is to ensure that patients receive ‘evidence based’ or ‘best-practice’ clinical, psychosocial, spiritual and cultural care. This means that clients and families can be assured that the treatment or services offered are ‘tried and tested’ or proven in other ways to be the most appropriate for their situation.

Karuna Hospice Services is involved in several state and national projects that are working to improve services and meet standards of best practice. An example is Palliative Care Outcome Collaborative (PCOC) which is concerned with collecting data about practice and outcomes from which the standards of best practice can be determined.

Karuna is the lead organisation of a Commonwealth funded education project for registered nurses.The Specialist Nurse Education Project (SNEP) aims to prepare nurses as beginning level palliative care specialists. The SNEP course, which was developed with the Centre for Palliative Care Research and Education and the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, received credit worthy status in postgraduate nursing courses at QUT.

Karuna is also working with the Palliative Care Network and Brisbane South Palliative Care Collaborative to develop best-practice guidelines for the handling of medications in the community.

Evidence-based or best practice is quite rightly the mantra of 21st century hospice-palliative care. The qualities of kindness, compassion and caring that underpin Karuna Hospice Services, while more difficult to define are never-the-less subject to scrutiny. Good care should be evident by the client’s quality of life, the family’s peace of mind and the enhanced self-esteem and self-confidence of the staff and others.

It’s wonderful that Karuna provides such a quality service.

by Dr Deborah Prior RN.PhD. FRCNA, Chairperson

Our ‘Ba’, from Karuna News Summer/Autumn 2008

Published

karuna

on March 6, 2008

in Community and Downloads

. 1 Comment

The Summer/Autumn Karuna Newsletter is now available. Download the Karuna News Summer/Autumn 2008 in pdf format. The following is just one article from the newsletter.

My mother, Gienia, was diagnosed with Lymphoma when my youngest son was 6 months old. We called her Ba. She had been Ba for the last 17 years and got the name from my nephew who called her that because Grandma was such a big word when he was very little.The name stuck. Ba coped really well with the first round of chemotherapy. She lost her hair but was still driving and getting around. But the cancer was still there so a second round was scheduled to begin on Boxing Day 2006.

Ba with grandsons Ryan and Josh

We had a lovely Christmas with Mum making her usual enormous plum pudding that we struggled to carry to the table. Mum knew what lay ahead but was upbeat and positive because she had already coped extremely well with one round of treatment and she was determined that she could manage another.We did not realise that this would be our last Christmas together. The second round of chemotherapy was very strong and she spent most of the year in and out of hospital. She was very weak and frustrated by her condition. Mum had always been very active and would fill her days helping others. She wanted to play with her small grandsons but it was all a little too much. A course of radiation followed the chemotherapy. Unbelievably, the cancer was still growing.The doctors sent her home to live the rest of her life. There was no timeframe - she could have years. As it turned out, it was less than 2 months.

My mother was frightened of dying alone and wanted to stay with me for as long as she could. My sister arrived from Mackay to help and that is when we first heard about Karuna.

We were asked, “What do you need”? We really did not know. The lovely Alice arrived the next day. She was so capable and reassuring and instantly we knew that we could do this. A bed arrived later in the day and my sister and I were relieved we had a 24 hour number for assistance.

Ba was deteriorating; she could no longer get out of bed and was barely eating. One Tuesday, Alice said that she was slipping faster than expected and she estimated Ba had less than a week. Alice or Lynda were there every day providing much needed advice and support, along with practical help with bathing, bed changing and pain management.

Our Ba lost her brave battle with cancer at 3.30am Monday 3rd September. She passed with one hand in my sister’s hand and the other in mine.

Ba’s calm and peaceful passing would not have been possible without the fantastic support from Karuna. I know that Ba really appreciated the assistance my sister and I received. She knew that without Karuna she would not have been able to stay at home listening to her grandsons play and giggle.

By Carol Ferris

Mandala Books Specials

Published

karuna

on February 28, 2008

in Updates

. 0 Comments

Mandala Books has a limited number of hard back editions of the Dalai Lama’s Stages of Meditation selling at the paperback price of $24.95!!! This is the main book for his teachings in Sydney in June so they will sell quickly! Call Mick at Mandala on 3632 8380 to place your order.

Mandala Books is now open every 1st Saturday of the month from 10am to 1pm, starting on the 1st of March. Come along on Saturday to catch some opening specials!

St Patrick’s Celebration Charity Fundraiser

Published

karuna

on January 24, 2008

in Events

. 1 Comment

The local branch of the Knights of the Southern Cross will again sponsor this fundraiser at Gaythorne RSL on Saturday 15 March - 6pm for 6.30pm.

For the cost of $35, patrons will receive a 3 course meal of soup, Guinness pie & vegetables, apple strudel & cream together with tea & coffee. There will be entertainment & a singalong as well as an opportunity to win great raffle prizes. A cash bar will be available.

Tickets available from Nev Wells on 3357 7386 or Frank Curran on 3355 7876. All tickets will be pre-sold prior to 1 March. There will be no door sales.

Come along & celebrate St. Patrick’s Day while helping a most worthwhile cause (all net proceeds will go to Karuna). You are assured of a great night.

We would love as many people as possible to attend. We are also looking for volunteers. Please contact Sally on 3632 8317 if you are available to help on the night from 6.00pm to approx 11.00pm.

We Wish You A Merry Christmas

Published

karuna

on December 14, 2007

in Community

. 1 Comment

The Mandala room looked beautiful with table centrepieces, wreaths and mantelpiece swags and exquisite hand made decorations adorning the tree and clustered in baskets waiting to be bought.

Once again Karuna Christmas market proved to be a very successful event for Karuna, and the visitors and volunteers enjoyed the opportunity to spend time in the gracious building and grounds and shop for wonderful hand made Christmas crafts and delicious festive foods.

On Friday shoppers enjoyed Christmas cake and wine under the Jacaranda tree and on Saturday visitors met up with friends as they ate delicious Devonshire teas at tables on the lawn in delightfully cool Brisbane weather.

Our heartfelt thanks to all the volunteers who helped but particularly to the Christmas craft ladies without whom none of this would happen…

May everyone and their loved ones have a joyful Christmas and many blessings for the New Year.

The Karuna Christmas Market at dusk

A Christmas Appeal from Deborah Jones

Published

karuna

on December 13, 2007

in Community

. 2 Comments

Download the Karuna Xmas Appeal pdf

Tony and I met when we were both very young. We were childhood sweethearts and had known each other a long time before building a life together with our three children. But sadly we lost Tony two years ago, after a short battle with cancer.

When he was diagnosed, the doctors gave Tony only a year to live, but we were blessed with more than 18 months together. During all the treatments and surgeries, he came out of it so positively and was always so strong. I have heard similar stories from friends I have made through Karuna. They all say how strong their partner or husband or wife was and how they carried everyone else through the illness with their positive attitude.

But about 17 months down the track, we decided not to continue treatment. The doctors had told us that they needed to control the growth of the tumor. This meant having surgery every four months. We knew this would be more than Tony could cope with. This was an agonizing decision for us because we knew that he would not survive without further surgery. It was at this point that we agreed to sell our business. That was another hard decision because once Tony let go of the business, he knew he would have to let go of us and that would be it.

Tony always said he didn’t fear death, but he felt very concerned about how I would cope and how that would affect the children. So I knew it was my turn to be strong. When he was discharged from the hospital we were told we would need more support and that is when our relationship with Karuna began.

Continue reading ‘A Christmas Appeal from Deborah Jones’

Karuna Hospice Services

Archive

16 Guidelines for a Happy Life

Acknowledgement of Funding Support for Karuna

Download Karuna News, Summer/Autumn 2008

My St Patrick’s Day Dinner Experience

Hospice, Care and Palliation in the 21st Century

Mandala Books Specials

St Patrick’s Celebration Charity Fundraiser

We Wish You A Merry Christmas

A Christmas Appeal from Deborah Jones

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