Discussing what matters most for older Australians

Dying is as a normal part of life as being born. While many of us are quick to rally around a new parent and offer help, supporting family or friends on the other end of life's fycle is often not as forthcoming.

Palliative Care Australia's new What Matters Most discussion starter resources are designed to help older people and those living with Dementia work out what would be right for them, if they were really sick or at the end of their life rather than waiting for a crisis to occur.

The resources can be used to help older Australians have these important discussions with their health care workers and family and friends.

The What Matters Most resources were recently launched at a special event at Parliament House, which was co-hosted with Dementia Australia and attended by the Governor-General, His Excellency David Hurley, and Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley.

His Excellency is Patron of Dementia Australia and Their Excellencies are joint Patrons of PCA.

"As Patron of both Palliative Care Australia and Dementia Australia, I am very pleased the organisations are working partnership," the Governor-General said.

"Both organisations bring expertise, compassion, and commitment to their mission and the services they provide to Australians when they, their families and loved ones, need them the most."

A community poll commissioned by PCA in 2019 indicated that Australians are not preparing for the end of their lives. Whilst eight in ten Australians think it's important to talk about their end-of-life care wishes, only one in four have actually had the conversation.

The What Matters Most resources have been designed to normalise early conversations about the end of life to assist older people in making future decisions that are aligned with their preferences.

“This is an ongoing process/ conversation that shouldn’t be done in acute situations or in the last days or weeks of a person’s life,” said Palliative Care Australia CEO, Mr Rohan Greenland.

In launching the new What Matters Most resources, Mr Greenland said “these resources were developed for health and aged care workers to support older people, including those living with dementia, to reflect and have conversations about What Matters Most to them and what they might want if they were very sick or at the end of their life.”

Mr Greenland thanked the Australian Government and the Department of Health for the Dementia and Aged Care Services (DACS) fund which supported the production of these resources.

“These resources are incredibly valuable to support health and aged care workers to have early conversations with older Australians about their end of life preferences, and were only made possible with this funding from government,” said Mr Greenland.

“We would also like to acknowledge Dementia Australia, Aged & Community Services (ACSA), Leading Age Services Australia (LASA), HammondCare and the aged care providers involved in development of What Matters Most, and importantly the people living with dementia and their carers for their invaluable feedback.”

The vibrant artwork used throughout the What Matters Most Resources was created by Mr Les Makai, a former serving member of the Australian Defence Force.

Les began his art career at the age of 41 having never picked up a paintbrush. He’d always been too busy to pursue this interest, until he was diagnosed with Posterior Cortical Atrophy, a form of dementia.

Les finds art therapeutic and derives great pleasure from knowing that his artworks bring joy to others. PCA is extremely grateful to Les for his support of the ‘What Matters Most’ initiative.

The What Matters Most resources are available to view and download online and include:

A Facilitator Guide that supports health and aged care workers to initiate conversations using the What Matters Most Discussion Starter and Cards with consumers of home, community, or residential aged care services.

The What Matters Most Discussion Starter with questions about the older person, about their health and about what they might want at the end of their life. The questions can be used by the health or aged care worker to guide the conversation with the older person as they explore What Matters Most to them.

The What Matters Most cards which can be used as prompts when working through the Discussion Starter or can be used as an ice breaker to get the person thinking about What Matters Most to them.

A limited supply of hard copy resources and resource sets on USB are available for the price of postage by contacting Palliative Care Australia at pca@palliativecare.org.au or phoning 02 6232 0700.

Learn more at www.dyingtotalk.org.au/what-matters-most-for-older-australians