GV Hospice Care Service — A new era for palliative care

A new era for GV Hospice Care Service

Committed to the cause

Leading the way with care

Proud history, bright future

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(03) 5822 0068 | gvhospice.com.au | 102 Balaclava Rd, Shepparton

The future in 3D — the makeover of GV Hospice Care is complete.

A new era for palliative care After more than 18 months of planning, GV Hospice Care Service is on the way to moving into its new home, a purposebuilt Community Palliative Care Hub that will provide specialist services to communities throughout Greater Shepparton.

“This new state-of-the-art Community Palliative Care Hub will for the first time, accomodate all of our staff including nurses, social workers, bereavement councellors and administration all under one roof GV Hospice Care president Jeanette Powell said.

The better space and facilities will allow GV Hospice Care staff to better meet the needs of patients and their families.

“The building has provisions for on-site consulting, it has family rooms for families in distress or bereaved,” GV Hospice Care vice-president John Beaver said.

“If they come into the building there is a quiet space for them to talk to our specialist staff.”

Mr Beaver has been with GV Hospice Care for 30 years and has seen the need for palliative care in the Goulburn Valley grow proportionally with the region’s ageing population.

GV Hospice Care is currently caring for about 100 patients (a number that fluctuates), with another 140 bereaved carers receiving support — but this number is set to increase steadily over the years.

And the creation of the Community Palliative Care Hub has future-proofed GV Hospice Care’s service to be able to meet the demands of an ever-increasing ageing population.

2 GV Hospice Care 2022

“Our new building is responding to the current needs, and supporting the future needs of a palliative care hub within the Greater Shepparton area,”Mr Beaver said.

Part of GV Hospice Care’s long-term plan for the new building is to leaseout space extra to the service’s needs, which will raise money to cover basic maintenance costs so all other funding goes towards providing patient care.

“We’re hoping that the leasing or renting out of the second story of the building will cover the cost and the expenses of the building that we’re going to move into,” Mrs Powell said.

The new GV Hospice Care building under construction.

“But the community’s fundraising and donations will continue to pay for the after-hours service and specialist equipment we provide free of cost such as patient beds, wheelchairs and commodes.”

Mrs Powell said they hoped to lease the space out to a specialist group that complements the services that GV Hospice Care provides.

“It may be that there could be a regional clinician that comes, that would rent some rooms upstairs so that they can see their patients there, which may be the same as our patients,” she said.

The services that GV Hospice Care provides have touched the lives of many families in the community,

Cosy and practical, these are the new offices at GV Hospice Care where nurse Rachael Kubeil is working..

most of whom give back to the service through donations or volunteering.

Jo Hanson, the daughter of a GV Hospice Care patient, said she was happy to see the improved facility for the selfless staff to provide even better outcomes for other families in the community.

“It will be amazing for them to have a beautiful facility to work in,” Ms Hanson said.

“There will be sleeping quarters there for the helpers who work overnight, that will be valuable for them.

“A lot of them travel, one particular nurse has to come over from Nathalia. Now she can stay overnight and be safe, which is really important.”

Mr Beaver said it was patients’ families like the Hansons and other generous members of the community that made it possible for GV Hospice Care to deliver its services.

“The Greater Shepparton community has been extremely supportive since our inception and we can’t thank that community enough for all the ways they support us in fundraising, support of our op shop and their many generous donations that allow us to provide a 24/7 service,” he said.

Work in progress at GV Hospice Care building site.

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Taking the reins for a new era Wendy Ross will be the new executive manager of GV Hospice Care, taking over the top job on August 8.

“Wendy is an outstanding appointment, bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience from her extensive career in private and public sector health, including palliative care and not-for-profit organisations,” GV Hospice Care committee president Jeanette Powell said.

Mrs Ross has always had a passion for looking after members of the community through end-of-life

Wendy Ross has been appointed as the new executive manager of GV Hospice Care.

s n o i t a l u t Con gra

A beautiful new space for GV Hospice Care

ARE C E C I P S O GV H W BUILDING

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The new GV Hospice Care building on Balaclava Road in Shepparton has officially opened its doors.

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E ON YOUR N

I have seen the wonderful work the Hospice staff members do in people’s homes 24-hours a day, and the new facility will provide staff and clients with an important home base.

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care and was drawn to the role by GV Hospice Care’s exceptional reputation.

She is currently the Primary Health and Service Innovation director at Kyabram District Health Service, and has previously been a senior director in other health services.

Her experience and leadership will be crucial in futureproofing of GV Hospice as the new purpose-built facility is rolled out.

Mrs Ross’s vision for the organisation is to utilise the new building to strengthen and grow the services offered by GV Hospice Care to be able to meet the needs of the community.

“The health industry is under a lot of pressure, so we need to make sure that we look after out workforce and make sure that we’ve got workforce into the future,” she said.

Mrs Powell said the appointment of Mrs Ross, along with the construction of the new building, was the beginning of a new era in palliative care services for the region.

Kerrie Fitzpatrick facilitates team meetings during COVID-19 restrictions.

Congratulations to

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Committed to the cause GV Hospice Care is a truly community-run organisation, with decisions being made by a committee of management of 12 volunteers from all walks of life who bring different skills and ideas to the table.

GV Hospice Care president Jeanette Powell has been involved in the organisation for years, from simple volunteer work to advocating on the service’s behalf in parliament when she was the State Member for Shepparton.

“We’re all there because we want to make sure hospice continues into the future,” Mrs Powell said.

“I’ve been involved with it for about 30 years, and I’ve seen it grow and I’ve just seen how much it’s needed. And the

reputation that it has in the community.”

The one thing that unites the members of the management committee is their passion and dedication to maintaining a nation-leading palliative care service.

“These are professional, community-minded people who are dedicated to making sure that the Goulburn Valley retains a 24-hour, seven days a week Hospice care service,” Mrs Powell said.

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“We’re all there because we want to make sure Hospice continues into the future.”

Their job is to ensure GV Hospice Care has good governance, is well managed with policies, plans and appropriate funding in place to enable the continuation of a free, 24/7 palliative care service to the community in a patient’s place of choice, which is usually the home.

– JEANETTE POWELL

“We’re very committed to making sure that Hospice remains free, doesn’t have a waiting list, and is also available to the community when they need it. That’s our commitment,” Mrs Powell said.

“We’re always looking at ways that we can make our service better, such as what we’re doing now with the new building, making sure that we’re able to provide that extra service well into the future.

“Because the need for the service is growing.”

Mrs Powell said palliative care wasn’t just about dying well, it was about living well too.

“Some people don’t know about hospice.

If you ask, ‘what do you know about Hospice?’, their thoughts are always about dying,” she said.

“But we’re trying to change that stigma, to say ‘I get it’s not just about dying’.

“It’s about living your best life. It’s not just about sitting in a bed, having pain, we try to make it as pain-free as possible.

“If somebody wanted to go fishing for a final time, we find a way of making that happen. So, it’s not just about dying, it’s about living.”

GV Hospice Care president Jeanette Powell.

GV Hospice Care vice-president John Beaver.

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Leading the way with care

GV Hospice clinical lead Annie Jorgensen.

Working with volunteers and partners.

GV Hospice Care is one of the leading palliative care providers in Australia, being ranked third out of 72 providers nationally — made possible by clinical lead Annie Jorgensen and her team of eight nurses.

“Our nurses are passionate about palliative care; they’re passionate about ensuring our our clients’ days can be just a little bit better by our involvement and we can provide care in the client’s place of choice,” Ms Jorgensen said.

“Five of our nurses are currently doing postgraduate studies in palliative care to enhance their knowledge and skills.

“Which is impressive for a small service, that we’ve got staff willing to continue that education and apply that to our patient care.

“I think they’re just committed and see the value in what they do every day.”

By providing leading, 24/7 palliative care, a nurse or volunteer is only a phone call away to support a family in need, whether that is simply advice and guidance over the phone, or a visit from an experienced carer.

“The ability for patients to be able to ring and speak to a nurse that they know ... for some guidance any time of the day or night just relieves that stress,” Ms Jorgensen said.

To achieve a top ranking, there are 20 benchmarks across all areas of care that GV Hospice Care staff had to meet.

“Nationally, a lot of agencies are getting about five out of the 20 benchmarks, while GV Hospice Care 8 GV Hospice Care 2022

is maintaining 16 to 17 of the 20 benchmarks,” Ms Jorgensen said.

She said palliative care as a clinical speciality was still in its infancy, and to have nurses dedicated to this form of care would keep GV Hospice Care as a leading palliative care provider.

Client Support Assistant Madison Nicholson.

“Where to go from here is looking at where the areas of improvement can be ... we’re always aiming to improve our benchmark.

“We’re just hoping that in the future, we can extend our interdisciplinary team with maybe some allied health staff actually employed by Hospice that can help also support our service.”

GV Hospice Care president Jeanette Powell said the completion of the new building would support and enrich hospice and palliative care services to Greater Shepparton.

“The building provides an opportunity to develop our workforce to meet the growing needs of our diverse community and provide increased options of care supporting people with lifelimiting illness or during their end of life care,” she said.

Want to hear more?

Hear from some of our employees, volunteers and service users as part of this podcast series created during National Palliative Care Week in May 2022 by One FM Shepparton, in collaboration with GV Hospice Care and GV Health.

Proud history, bright future

It all started about 33 years ago, when members of the community identified the need for palliative care in Shepparton, which at the time was non-existent. Through the hard work and dedication of the community, GV Hospice Care has grown to be one of the premier palliative care services in Australia.

2022 The GV Hospice Rallye event raises $1million for GV Hospice across 26 years.

GV Hospice moves to its new purpose-built facility.

2018-19

The op shop fills 5990 12kg bags of rags, which is 71,880kg total in donations.

1993

1987

Rotary Hospice House is opened by Jenny Lewis and Adrian Buncle.

Goulburn Valley Base Hospital staff are alarmed at the gap in health care services for a large number of cancer sufferers, and want better solutions for people at the end of their lives.

1988

Roberta Holmes contacts the Health Department about establishing a hospice service in Shepparton after seeing her aunt, Lady Mineta Fairley, suffer from a rare cancer in an acute hospital setting.

Volunteers record a minimum of 9558 hours, equivalent to 4.7 full-time staff.

2014

1994

The GV Hospice Op Shop opens, run by Carol Trotter and staffed with volunteers.

1994-95

1989 A premises is secured at 8 Welsford St, officially opened

by MP Caroline Hogg.

Dr Ian Barker, chairman of GV Hospice Care, lays out the organisation’s mission.

“Our aim is to maximise the quality of life of the dying patient and those family members and friends intrinsically involved with the patient,” Dr Barker said.

They care for 71 patients in the first year.

GV Hospice Care works with Rumbalara staff to educate them on providing palliative care to the local First Nations community.

2011

A part-time nurse is employed to travel beyond the 30km boundary outside Shepparton.

Goulburn Valley Palliative Care Service Development Committee meets.

2017-18

More than 100 volunteers support the service with their time and expertise.

2008

1996

The community raises $209,000 for GV Hospice Care. That was 75 per cent of total service funding.

1998

A bereavement counsellor is added to the staff and Fran Smullen joins the service two days a week.

GV Hospice Care obtains and renovates premises at Balaclava Rd; committee member John Beaver leads the project.

1999

GV Hospice Care enables more than 80 per cent of patients to die in the place of their choosing. Other services in Australia at the time average only 30 per cent.

GV Hospice Care 2022 9

Family grateful for support GV Hospice Care not only provides comfort and care to patients, but to their families as well.

And that meant the world to Neville Hanson’s family.

stalwart through the services of GV Hospice Care.

Mr Hanson recently passed away, aged 93. In his twilight years the staff from GV Hospice Care provided palliative care for him in the family home.

His daughter Jo Hanson said it was “absolutely amazing” having the support of GV Hospice Care.

“It was just such a such a relief for us as a family to know that he had the regular care he deserved,” she said.

Mr Hanson was a local business owner, founding Goulburn Valley Plaster nearly 50 years ago, and working and contributing to the community right up to the age of 85 when he finally retired.

“He was a very well-respected man, and a very dignified man,” Ms Hanson said.

“For him to have care come into the house was just incredibly comforting for us as a family.

“It’s not just the care, it’s the things that made my dad’s life so much easier—they were just there straight away, it was amazing.”

Providing adequate care to a loved one was a responsibility that came crashing down on the Hanson family out of nowhere.

But having the support of GV Hospice Care’s services took all their anxiety and uncertainty away.

Ms Hanson said the women from GV Hospice Care who cared for her father were brilliant, giving her peace of mind to know they were only a phone call away.

“And within 10 or 15 minutes they would be there to help us,” she said.

He was always putting his hand up to contribute to the community that he loved. A keen Rotarian, he was awarded the Paul Harris Fellow for 35 years of service.

“We’d never been in that position before.

It was just such a relief to us that people came in to guide us and guide Dad,” Ms Hanson said.

The grateful family has since given back to GV Hospice Care.

Mr Hanson’s wish was to make a donation towards the new building so that other families could receive the same 24/7 care he had been fortunate enough to experience.

After a lifetime of service and hard work in the community, that same community gave back to this Shepparton

“All the other support, too—talking us through what was in store so we could prepare.”

“That was Dad’s wish. He felt privileged to be able to contribute towards that,” Ms Hanson said.

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“For him to have care come into the house was just incredibly comforting for us as a family.”

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Jo Hanson, daughter of GV Hospice Care patient Neville Hanson, is grateful for the care the organisation gave to her father.

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Op shop funds vital extra hours Pamela Woods has been involved in the community her whole life.

When she was raising her kids on their family farm, she was always involved in mothers’ groups and sporting clubs.

“I always helped there, wherever I could. And then when they grew up, I felt I needed to do something else,” Ms Woods said.

time is the value that GV Hospice Care brings to the community.

“When I started working there, I realised what a great need it was for the people that need palliative care,” Ms Woods said.

Op shop manager Darlene Crossley said the GV Hospice Op Shop relied on about 46 volunteers to make what they do possible.

When looking for somewhere to direct her community spirit, it was only natural for her to donate her time at the GV Hospice Op Shop.

That’s where it all started, and 15 years later she is still volunteering at the op shop. What’s kept her there all this

One volunteer, Audrey Mclaren, turns 90 in July — but that hasn’t stopped her from coming in every Tuesday to work from 1pm to 4pm.

Assistant manager Nancy Sessions and volunteer Pamela Woods at the GV Hospice Op Shop.

“We’re just very lucky to have so many people that do support our op shop,” Ms Crossley said.

In the 2018-19 period, the op shop filled 5990 12kg ‘bags of rags’, which is 71,880kg of donated items.

“We get donations every day, all day.

It’s unbelievable,” Ms Crossley said.

GV Hospice Care receives government funding to provide palliative care to the community from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

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But the rest of the money needed to provide palliative care 24/7 comes from community fundraising, like the GV Hospice Op Shop.

“All of these funds go to help us to pay for our nursing staff, after hours, because we do get paid by the government for nine to five, five days a week,” GV Hospice Care president Jeanette Powell said.

That makes the GV Hospice Op Shop a critical part of ensuring the entire 24/7 palliative care service provided

by GV Hospice Care continues.

“The extra help that we get from the community pays for the after hours nursing, because we’re one of the very few in regional Victoria that do have an after hours service 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Mrs Powell said.

“So while the community continues to fund, we’ll continue to provide that after hours service, which we know the community have come to really rely on and that they really want.”

The op shop doesn’t just benefit the patients of GV Hospice Care, but the entire community, Ms Crossley said.

“It’s a win-win for all supporting hospice but we’re also helping people in the community access cheaper items,” she said.

“Jackets and shoes that they might not otherwise be able to afford, then can come in here and get a beautiful coat for $6 — we have half price shoes at the moment, $3.

“It helps the charity, and it helps the community.”

Ms Woods feels the time she has spent volunteering at the op shop has been an important community service and encourages others to volunteer their time too.

“It doesn’t matter how many hours you do,” she said.

“I feel like the little time I have done there was important, and I have found it rewarding for myself.

“I’ve met beautiful people along the way. It’s like a big family at the shop.”

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Volunteers make a difference GV Hospice Care volunteer Marija Matejic.

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Palliative care isn’t just about dying well, it’s about living well and experiencing the best quality of life possible.

While working in aged care, Marija Matejic saw the value of palliative care for the community and was determined to step up and do her part by volunteering at GV Hospice Care.

“To me it was important that someone was there with them, not only during the end of life, but through the whole process,” she said.

There are only eight nurses at GV Hospice Care, who rely heavily on the support of volunteers like Ms Matejic to ensure that patients receive the best palliative care possible — not just physical care, but mental and emotional too.

GV Hospice Care volunteers can help patients with things that may seem trivial to most people but mean the world to those in their care.

“It’s not just staying at home with (the patients) — we can take them out for coffees, we can take them shopping, we can do a lot of range of things,” Ms Matejic said.

In her volunteering role, Ms Matejic has the opportunity to make sure patients have the best quality of life that they can.

“I had a patient a few years ago, she didn’t go out to the shops because her mobility was not very good,” she said.

“And I shared her with another volunteer and the other volunteer loved shopping. So, she did the shopping bit and I caught up with them for coffee.

“This patient, once she started going out again, she thought that it was Christmas, going to the shops and buying new clothes.

“She just loved it, it was another lease on life ... something that we were able to bring out and encourage her to do.”

Ms Matejic said it was rewarding to give back by being there for these senior citizens who dedicated their lives to their communities and families.

“A lot of people who have got disabilities and these diseases, they can sort of feel like no-one wants to know them,” she said.

“And to come in on a regular basis, that makes them feel ‘normal’, holding a conversation, communicating ... that’s a big privilege.”

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OUR SERVICES:

BECOME A VOLUNTEER:

WORK WITH US:

• GV Hospice Care Service is a specialist community based palliative care service supporting people living in Greater Shepparton.

• A nurse is available to discuss a person’s concern anytime of the day or night 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, inclusive of all public holidays.

• GV Hospice Care Service supports people with a life threatening illness to live well and, in doing so, provides support within the person's home to support symptom management and improve the quality of life of individuals, carers and families.

GV Hospice Care Services welcomes, encourages and supports the participation of many volunteers (in a variety of capacities) to enhance the provision of palliative care services in Greater Shepparton. Volunteers' activities are varied and do not replace the work of paid employees.

GV Hospice Care is a specialist palliative care service providing support to patients, their carers and their families within the Greater Shepparton municipality. We are a notfor-profit organisation governed by a volunteer Committee of Management and employ approximately 20 employees across the following disciplines: • Nursing: clinical and management • Health professionals: counselling, bereavement, social work, Quality and Innovation and a Coordinator of Volunteers and Community Engagement • Administration: business and client support services • Retail: Sales and donation collection at the Opportunity Shop in Fryers Street

Volunteer positions include: Committee of Management, patient care volunteers, Opportunity Shop, Fundraising and Other Volunteers.

Volunteers are deeply committed and find an essential part of services offered.

102 Balaclava Rd, Shepparton

T. 5822 0068 | gvhospice.com.au