Creating a caring community

End of life care services in focus as campaign for a community hospice facility gains momentum

When it comes to community campaigns, a focus on end of life care has gained considerable momentum in the past 18 months in Mount Gambier.

Much of the campaign has been under the leadership of long standing community health advocate Maureen Klintberg, and significant strides have been taken with the creation of the In Home Hospice Care (IHH) service which has been in operation over the past 18 months.

The IHH Care project was months in the making and made possible through a South Australian Government Palliative Care grant of almost $150,000.

The inaugural group of volunteers for the not-for-profit In Home Hospice Care (IHHCare) in Mount Gambier graduated in July 2021 ready to help provide people who are approaching end of life with the option of holistic, compassionate family centred care in their own home – a realisation of a call to arms from the community.

“The need for hospice and an extension of the current local palliative care to provide support 24 hours a day, seven days a week has been expressed for some time within the community, and these issues were highlighted at the Community Palliative Care Forum held in Mount Gambier a couple of years ago,” Mrs Maureen Klintberg said.

And that service has continued to thrive, training more volunteers and ensuring people who are facing end of life, together with their families and carers, have the option of practical, holistic care in the comfort of their home.

Establishing a hospice in Mount Gambier is the logical extension of that IHH Care service and that is what the Member for Mount Gambier and the committee that has been set up to help spearhead the campaign.

Key2Sale principal Gail Richards is one passionate member of that committee. Driven by personal experience, Gail has thrown her support behind end of life care and the needs in the space in this community.

The inaugural Key 2 Kindness Charity Ball was the first event to shine a light on palliative care and raised funds for cuddle beds to be available at the hospital and, the ball itself, reinforced for Gail the genuine end of life care needs in Mount Gambier and the wider Limestone Coast.

“I lost my grandmother Fay in 2020 during COVID which was an incredibly difficult time,” Gail said. “We were only able to have very short visits because of the hospital rules at the time and this lack of connection at such a very emotional time was quite heart breaking. The staff at the hospital did an amazing job given family time was very limited.

“The Key 2 Kindness Ball was created as an opportunity to give back to the Mount Gambier Hospital to provide funding for a cuddle bed and also start the conversation around end of life care in our local community.

“It was a chance to give back and provide funding to purchase a cuddle bed for the hospital to provide patients and their families with a bed that encourages connection, intimacy and comfort in their final days and was incredibly rewarding given this was something our family missed out on.”

It was following last year’s ball that momentum for a hospice facility really started to gather steam. More than a social and fundraising juggernaut, the ball was a chance for Mrs Klintberg to share her expertise in the palliative care space – what is currently on offer in Mount Gambier and what services are still required – as well as a video presentation from Lucy Cornes, the ambassador for the Laurel Hospice in Adelaide.

“Momentum and awareness on the lack of palliative care services in our region has simply grown from there,” Gaul said. “The charity ball enabled me to connect with Maureen (Klintberg) who is the driving force of the Mount Gambier In Home Hospice Care which is an organisation of volunteers that provide compassionate care to the dying who would like to die at home. They support patients and their family, carers and friends.

“If this amazing organisation was around when my grandmother was dying we would have had the opportunity for her to stay and be supported and cared for in her own home and this would have made a huge difference to how much time we could have spent with her given COVID rules at the time. For a lot of people being at home for end of life is incredibly comforting to be in a familiar environment surrounded by those you love and love you.”

But there is also need for an almost hybrid service and that is where the community hospice facility comes in – providing clinical support for patients in a setting with all the comforts of home.

“Once I found out about the amazing palliative care facilities Laurel Hospice has to offer, I realised how disadvantaged Creating a caring community patients and their families are in country areas and the lack of palliative care services in our community,” Gail said. “It’s not until someone in your family travels the end of life journey that you realise there is so much more we can do to make the time easier on patients and families. The services Laurel Hospice has to make the journey a little easier are amazing and is something for our community to aspire to.

“The Charity Ball really opened my eyes to how many people sat there on the night with tears in their eyes that had been directly affected in some way. The support and beautiful feedback and the generosity of all who attended really showed there are so many passionate people throughout our community that have been affected in some way and would also like to see better facilities and resources.

“Our vision would be for In Home Hospice Care and the local hospice facility to work hand in hand and give patients choice on how and where they would like to die and it would be available to anyone in the community who needs it.”

“With the help of Troy Bell and a dedicated bunch of local community members we see a hospice as a much needed facility for our local community and we hope the community will get behind and support it. Our governments need to look at how many people in Mount Gambier and the outlying regional areas that this facility would support. In turn a hospice would also take pressure off our hospital resources.”

Lifestyle1 will highlight the research undertaken by Maureen Klintberg and the role of the new position in Troy Bell’s officerfocussing on the hospice campaign among other responsibilities in next week’s edition.

COMMUNITY CAMPAIGN: (Above main) The Key 2 Sale staff at the inaugural Key 2 Kindness Charity Ball which was a key factor in placing end of life care into the community’s consciousness; (inset) one of the cuddle beds that were purchased as part of the Key 2 Kindness Charity ball proceeds and (below) community campiagner Maureen Klintberg.