National Palliative Care Week, held from 21-27 May, offered an opportunity to reflect on the impact of quality palliative care and end-of-life planning in Australia.
This year’s theme, ‘Matters of Life and Death,’ was a reminder of the importance of compassionate and supportive end-of-life care for those with life-limiting illnesses and their families.
One of the great myths about palliative care is that it is only a synonym for end-of-life care. It is so much more than that. Anyone with a life-limiting illness has the right to live as well as possible, for as long as possible.
Healthy North Coast helped to raise awareness of National Palliative Care Week by promoting the recent screenings of Live the life you please at Majestic Cinemas, Nambucca Heads and Star Court Theatre, Lismore.
‘Live the life you please’, directed by Mike Hill, is a definitive, new feature documentary film about living and dying in Australia. Told by medical professionals, patients and their families, it is an intimate portrait of the end-of-life experience and makes profound observations about life, death and what happens in between.
The stories include Australians of all ages, in different stages of disease and in a variety of locations and cultural, socio-economic and personal circumstances. Watch the trailer here.
‘Live the life you please’ powerfully makes the case for the impact accessible services can have as we approach the end-of-life. It also supports the concepts of cultural safety, healthy conversations about death and dying amongst family members, and the importance of advance care planning.
Click here for more information about National Palliative Care Week.
