THE palliative care unit at Bendigo Health is celebrating twenty-five years of providing care to terminally ill patients.<\/p>\n
Situated on Mercy Street, the clinic was once part of Stella Anderson nursing home but has operated as a stand-alone clinic since 1998.<\/p>\n
Deanna Keogh, a carer at the facility, said the anniversary was about acknowledging the patients the service had looked after.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re here day to day and I know we do a job to make the place function, but it\u2019s actually all about the patients we\u2019ve had the privilege to look after, and remembering them and honouring their memory,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The carers at Mercy Street focus their work on hospice patients and their families, a practice that requires leaving their own troubles at the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s hard, we rely on each other very much,\u201d she said. \u201cI go to the auxiliary meetings and I just chat in the meetings, I lean on everyone that I can, we lean on each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
Val Truant, president of the Bendigo palliative care auxiliary, has personally seen three close relatives receive care from the hospice, including her sister who passed at the age of 51.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mum didn\u2019t come here but she was at home and the hospice would come out,\u201d Ms Truant said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was totally different from my sister to my mum, my sister had everything to live for, but my mum was 91.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was grateful she had such a long life and she was happy, whereas my sister had so much to live for.\u201d<\/p>\n
The personal experience of loss is something many of the carers relate to, having seen community members and occasionally hospice staff pass through the hospice.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing that makes sense about it, you can\u2019t understand why a 20, or a 50-year-old is dying,\u201d Ms Keogh said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just put it away and not focus on that, you focus on what you can do to help and that might mean a nice rug, a cup of tea, a better bed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Staff at the hospice, with support from the auxiliary, do what they can to help people feel at ease, including allowing family and pets to stay.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt should always be about that person, that family,\u201d Ms Keogh said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE palliative care unit at Bendigo Health is celebrating twenty-five years of providing care to terminally ill patients. Situated on Mercy Street, the clinic was once part of Stella Anderson nursing home but has operated as a stand-alone clinic since 1998. Deanna Keogh, a carer at the facility, said the anniversary was about acknowledging the […]<\/p>\n