Launch of Death, Dying and Palliative Care DVD

29th June 2016

On Wednesday 29 June 2016 The Hon. Michael Ferguson, the Tasmanian Minister for Health, launched ‘Exploring Death, Dying and Palliative Care’ DVD at the Nagle Centre, St Mary’s College, Hobart, noting that

“This program is uniquely engaging in that through the eyes of the students, we learn how we may improve community understanding of the impact for people who are approaching and reaching the end of life.”

The Hon. John Watkins, Chair, Little Company of Mary Health Care, said “this project exemplifies the continuation of our founder, Mary Potter, who had a very specific and particular focus on providing exceptional and dignified palliative care to people in the community.”

The 13 minute educational DVD documents a six week interactive program between Calvary hospitals, and senior Vocational Education and Training (VET) Nursing school students from St Mary’s and Guilford Young Colleges.

Conducted on site at Calvary St John’s Hospital, the program helps students learn about death, dying and palliative care from a range of experts, including from the patients themselves.

One of the patients, Virginia de Groot, generously shares with the students her challenging experience of having a terminal illness and talking about it with her family, which for many of the students was a very moving and emotional experience. “I didn’t consider that some people find it hard to talk about it and come to terms with it, so that was, yeh, quite emotional’ said one student.

The students experiences were shared in creative journals and a video diary blog, enriched by some simple and expressive drawings created by a visual scribe.

“The piece I have drawn and written shows how talking about death/dying does not have to be a “hush/hush” topic. That it is OK to talk about it. There is no need to feel awkward or scared about bringing up the conversation. People need to be educated and have a better understanding of Palliative Care. The conversation needs to happen, no matter how hard it is. The more knowledge people have the easier it will be on the individual and families”

Nadia Dandolo, Student participant

Virginia and her family attended the launch along with students and leaders from health and palliative care and other guests from Tasmania and interstate. The program is co-funded by Palliative Care Tasmania and Calvary Hobart.

The program is co-funded by Calvary Hobart ad Palliative Care Tasmania as part of the Better Access to Palliative Care Program.