In November 2020, after easing of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions, St Michael’s Ethiopian Orthodox Church organised an outing for two clients in their palliative support project.
The clients and their volunteers enjoyed a traditional meal at an Ethiopian restaurant in Footscray. It was the first time the volunteers met their clients face-to-face! It was also the first outing for both clients since March when COVID lockdown began. They were able to get to know each other better and share stories about various experiences.
Social support
On another occasion, the project staff accompanied Mr T to sessions with a Deep Tissue Therapist in Morwell, two and a half hours drive from Melbourne. By the end of the second visit, Mr T had made clear progress in movement. The therapist also provided complementary therapies, herbal medicines for improving energy.
A carer occasionally visited, but Mr T lived on his own. The project coordinator organised for other volunteers to share visits to the client. They prepare traditional dishes to take with them and accompany him to church on Sundays and other days of special events when his carer is not available.
Education, networking and training
Three palliative support volunteers attended two of the PCV 2020-21 series of workshops on Recognising Deterioration and Palliative Care Conversations for the multicultural aged care workforce.
In November, the palliative support project also organised an online workshop titled Palliative Care. The guest speaker was Kidest Desta, a nurse with more than thirteen years experience in the palliative care sector in Melbourne. Fifteen participants from the community network attended.
Kidest covered topics such as: what palliative care is, who can receive it, what services are provided through palliative care, taboos about speaking of illness in the community. She discussed the benefit of talking about illness and how to get help from palliative care services. Discussing with patients earlier in the course of the illness gives more time to prepare and/or fulfil last wishes.
Kidest gave an example of a university student who was rushing to finish his research project. He completed his study from his sick bed and finally accomplished his dream before he died. Kidest shared her own career experience and stressed the importance of open discussion about palliative care and talking about death, between families and friends and at social events.
This is not new for Kidest. “I’m a big believer and advocate of discussion about death”, she says. “We can’t see death, but it’s very close like on the palm of our hand. It is helpful notifying the patient as they may have something in mind to accomplish earlier and ease grieving for their family or carer.”
There was positive feedback from the participants. Many said it was their first time attending discussions about palliative care and terminal illness and expressed an interest in further educational webinars. Some agreed that it was important to be open about illness in day-to-day life, as it enables the patient, carers and families of the patient to ease the pain and support the family when death occurred.
“Very friendly, knowledgeable and engaging presenters shared their experiences in palliative care. I’d like to attend more such workshops in future”, says volunteer Rahel.
Ezana subsequently organised another palliative care awareness discussion at a church social event for about 18 people, aged between 30-50 years.
The project maintains regular contact with the network of community members and sends out health and COVID-19 updates (received from PCV) via email and VIBER.
Image: Flyer in Amharic language, promoting palliative care information session