Understanding end of life

Waipuna Hospice marketing and fundraising director Sas Pearce. Photo: Supplied.

They're taking the message out on the road, to the people, and that message is about demystifying the hospice, answering questions and distributing information for those facing the end of life and their families.

It's Hospice Awareness Week from May 14, and Waipuna Hospice will have an information caravan parked outside various hospice shops in the district, with people invited to call in and chat.

Waipuna Hospice marketing and fundraising director Sas Pearce says the caravan will be in a different location every day.

'Awareness week is a good time for communities to better understand how Waipuna Hospice can help people facing end of life - and their families,” says Sas.

Hospices provide care for people of any age, with any life-limiting condition, and they support families and care-givers, both before and after death.

'We want to break some barriers,” says Sas, 'and have people come away from awareness week thinking about things like advanced care planning and what a hospice does.”

Waipuna Hospice's awareness week will have a focus on bucket lists, and those visiting the caravans will also be invited to jot down one of their bucket list items.

'So often we hear people say ‘I would love to do that one day'. We want to encourage people to make today that one day, and do something they love today rather than waiting until they are facing end of life,” says Sas.

There'll be spot prizes for contributions to the bucket. The awareness week will also include a bucket list challenge, with participants encouraged to tackle a bucket list item and photograph the activity. For further details visit: www.waipunahospice.org.nz

There's also a planning for the future symposium – a conversation around the changing landscape of palliative care. The symposium, on May 14, will cover topics such as: ‘What is important at the end-of-life' by Dr Yvonne Bray, and ‘It's always too early, until it's too late' by Bay of Plenty District Health Board CEO Helen Mason, plus other topics by palliative care specialists.

A limited number of tickets are available to the symposium. For more information go to: www.waipunahospice.org.nz

The roadshow caravan will be at 271 Fraser Street on Monday May 14, 1267 Cameron Road, Greerton, on Tuesday 15, 17 Main Road, Katikati on Wednesday May 16, 200 Jellicoe Street, Te Puke on Thursday May 17, 2 MacDonald Street, Mount Maunganui on Friday May 18 and 157 Domain Road, Papamoa on Saturday May 19.

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