Dying to Know Day and Gentle Transitions Advocacy and Support, along with the Lions Club of Seymour Goulburn, held an advance care forum on Wednesday, August 7, at the senior citizens hall in Seymour.
Co-ordinator Bianca Hurle, an enrolled nurse and end-of-life doula, worked closely with Lions Club of Seymour Goulburn’s Leonie Willis to host a well planned and informative afternoon.
Dying To Know Day, which is held annually on August 8 in Australia, aims to shine a light on the transformative power of community in helping to dissolve the discomfort of talking about death and dying.
Ms Hurle’s presentation focused on personalised final arrangements and building community.
Ms Hurle emphasised the importance of planning ahead and building community death literacy.
The presentation raised a number of points for discussion with attendees offered the opportunity to have all their questions answered by a panel of experts including Goulburn River Group Practice doctor Lester Nazareth, Seymour Health community services manager Paula Sutherland, Glen Funerals and Howard Squires Funerals manager Deanna Whitehouse, Howard Squires Funerals funeral director Vanessa Kanters and Osborne & Osborne Seymour solicitor Warren Osborne.
“In the forum, when I asked the attendees who had actually done an advanced care plan, there was only one hand that went up,” Ms Hurle said.
“When I asked who has actually done a will, there was 95 per cent of people in the room that had actually done a will.
“People recognise the importance of doing a will, but don’t actually recognise the importance of advanced care planning and how valuable that is.”
“Considering that 70 per cent of people die from a chronic illness, it’s expected that they’re going to die, rather than an unexpected death.”
An advanced care plan is a living will, according to Ms Hurle.
“An advanced care plan is only valid while you are living and it comes into use when you are deemed as not being able to make decisions for yourself,” she said.
“The importance of this is usually it’s when the family has hit a crisis point, so it might be that you’ve had a sudden stroke or heart attack or something of the like and the family need to make some decisions.
“You’re still alive, but you’re unable to make those decisions for yourself and so, with advanced care planning, what it does do is it goes through and talks about things like your values, your beliefs, what your preferences are, if somebody else is making those decisions for you.”
Ms Hurle also stressed the importance of people drafting an advanced care plan when they were young and healthy.
“It is a really important document to do when you’re well, so if you’re doing it as a younger person, then you can just review it as circumstances change ... it doesn’t actually cost you anything,” she said.
“It’s not like a will where you have to actually go and get it signed off by the solicitor or a lawyer.”
The difference between an advanced care plan and an advanced care directive is that an advance care plan isn’t actually a legal document until it has been signed off by the doctor.
Ms Willis was pleased with the number of people at the forum and she hoped to hold it again in the future.
She thanked the senior citizens club for the use of the venue.
Afternoon tea was provided by the Lions Club of Seymour Goulburn.
Ms Hurle said she hoped the forum showed the importance of having an advanced care plan.
“I’m really hoping that the outcome of the advanced care plan is that people recognise the importance of it, they go home and they talk about it to their families and talk about what matters most to them,” she said.
“They start that whole planning process, but also educate each other around why it’s important.”