We love this one. Prof Joe is so clear and gentle…and he knows how to tell a good story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30eXWq80E00&feature=youtu.be For more from Prof Joe, including a range of brilliant resources, go to: https://www.profjoe.com.au/ For more good communication on advance planning, go to:
“All lives don’t matter until black lives matter,” a young protester in Sydney told the ABC on Tuesday night. American George Floyd’s death has triggered distress in Australia’s Indigenous families about their own people’s continued deaths at the hands of authorities. Change appeared to come after a Royal Commission into … Read more
Work has gone online – even, surprisingly, in the healthcare space. We’ve discovered more about what’s effective and what isn’t as lawyers, school teachers and sales people have developed new online practices. However, at times this can feel like two steps forward, one step back. Some Sydney lawyers report that … Read more
This is a review of where we are now, the gains and losses in managing the threat of death from Covid-19. What has changed, what has gone backwards, what has improved? Not all the threats to life will come from the virus itself, a space that health professionals are now … Read more
A new report is calling for the appointment of a Palliative Care Commissioner and $240 million a year to support home based palliative care, reports Judy Skatssoon of Community Care Review. “The report says palliative care is treated like an “optional extra” but should be a core health service in the aged … Read more
If ever there were an illustration of the link between politics and mortality statistics, George Floyd symbolises it. The video of a Minneapolis policeman with his knee pressed down on George’s neck, in an act that would kill him, is now infamous. It has incited riots and protests all over … Read more
Today, back to where we started to give a big shout out to palliative care volunteering, which warms the hearts of the dying. When Covid-19 struck the first thing to go was raucous family dinners, with grandchildren chasing each other through the kitchen, crashing into puppies and slipping on the … Read more
The USA has just passed a sombre milestone – 100,000 deaths from Covid-19. So what does this outcome show us about the intersection between health and politics? In a reflection which is echoed in reportage and analysis by many from all over America, CNN’s Stephen Collinson says: “A Columbia University … Read more
Ventilators keeping more than 8000 patients alive, in nursing homes: it doesn’t seem plausible. But it’s true. In the US today approximately 8200 ventilators are being used in nursing homes, triggering a debate about whether these should be turned over to covid-19 patients, in the event of the country’s ventilator … Read more
Covid-19 has exposed the confusion in our culture between being old and fit – with many more years left in you and being elderly and frail and near death. Before Covid-19, the ordinary flu would wipe out a surprisingly large number of elderly people each winter. No-one thought about it … Read more
What do you say to someone who’s recently been bereaved? “Contact, listen and bless,” says the UK’s At A Loss organisation. The bless is “shower with good things”. At A Loss’s tips include: make contact, even if you’re unsure about it call, don’t video call be prepared to leave a … Read more
Thank you to Deb Rawlings and the End-of-Life-Essentials team for sharing this. It’s a perfect video to wrap up our current bracket of advance care directive discussions. By reading this, you’ll understand just how different the scenarios can be in end of life planning – and the factors that need … Read more
So what sort of end of life decisions might need to be made if you suffering from Covid-19? Like advance care planning with other diseases, you are stepping through a series of “If, then”s. Here’s information from the UK’s Royal College of Physicians about what happens in Covid-19 critical care. … Read more
We’ve found a good, practical, user-friendly resource that can help you with advance care planning if you become ill with Covid-19. The following message comes from, the US, one of the busiest countries dealing with Covid-19. Thank you very much to Colorado Care Planning at https://coloradocareplanning.org/ who helped us track … Read more
Jenny McFadden has started a Facebook group, Covid Safe Elders Australia. People can get in touch with the group and share their concerns about the way the elderly are being managed during Covid-19. “We’re interested in people who have experiences and stories about aged care. These experiences can help us … Read more
Join our mailing list to receive our latest articles, useful resources and news on upcoming events.