The past few years have been incredibly disruptive in Victoria, particularly for health services, staff and communities. This is not news to anyone working in health and community care settings.
It has also been a challenging time for PEPA (Victoria) as many of the Host organisations we depend on have not been in a position to host participants. On the other hand, many health professionals, care workers and community health workers who are eager to undertake an immersive experience in the palliative care sector, have not been able to take study leave from their employer to undertake a PEPA placement due to staffing shortages, escalating workloads and widespread illness caused by the pandemic.
Of course the pandemic is not over, but as we move beyond the initial crisis, we see that the need is greater than ever before to build the capacity in our communities to provide quality, timely and needs based palliative and end of life care. Care of seriously ill and dying people happens across a range of settings, most of which are not specialist palliative care services.
The Program of Experience in the Palliative Approach (PEPA) provides an opportunity for people from a range of backgrounds to gain 'on the ground' experience in a palliative care environment in order to return to their specific workplace and champion best practice end of life care.
PEPA offers not only placement opportunities, but on site workshops about all aspects of palliative and end of life care, Mentoring workshops for organisations to build their capacity to host participants and to support their own staff and Reverse PEPA placements that enable specialist palliative care clinicians to undertake a placement in another specialty area.
The IPEPA program offers opportunities for indigenous care workers to upskill in end of life care in a culturally sensitive environment, again to build capacity in their own organisations and communities after they complete their placement.
PEPA cannot happen without our amazing Host organisations; specialist palliative care services and community organisations willing to accept colleagues from other specialties in order to assist them to upskill both personally and professionally and then share that knowledge when they return to their own organisation. This is a sincere call out to all of the Host organisations who have actively participated in the past, to again open their doors to willing participants so we can build on the foundations established in the past and ultimately ensure that all dying people receive the care they need and deserve, no matter where they live or what their circumstances.
We encourage all specialist palliative care services across the state, rural and metropolitan, to connect with the PEPA (Victoria) office and let us know of your availability to once again act as a Host site. PEPA@svha.org.au
We also encourage anyone working in health or community care wishing to expand their knowledge about end of life care, to apply online for a PEPA placement. https://pepaeducation.com .You can also find self-paced, online learning modules, Guideline documents and much more about the PEPA program.
Help us to make access to palliative and end of life care in place a reality for all.
Molly Carlile AM
Manager PEPA (Vic)
Office: 03 92311926
Email: PEPA@svha.org.au
Web: pepaeducation.com