A little bit of insight from Sonia on Palliative Care.
“Palliative care. This is not an easy area to work in. It can be physically and emotionally challenging. Your focus and your interpersonal skills must remain sharp when in-home caring for patients and communicating with their families. You also have to be present for your staff when they require your support.
I’ve worked in aged care for many years and palliative care is an essential part of it. If you work at a healthcare facility you have the immediate support of your peers and other healthcare professionals at hand. While this is a great relief, there’s a downside. Nursing facilities don’t offer their patients the time and courtesy to properly engage with them on an individual basis, especially in palliative care. There’s always another patient, another resident to see. Nurses are on a busy rotation of duties and these places are often short-staffed. This is where an elderly person’s quality of life can begin to decline. While their medical needs may be adequately met, that extra time, that listening ear, that human touch begins to fall through the cracks in a rushed, overwhelmed, clinical setting. This is where independent in-home care provides a more person-focused approach to meeting the needs of the elderly. While maintaining the daily needs of your client, you build that rapport with the person you’re caring for. You get to know them. They get to know you. You are spending quality time with them, listening to their stories, and learning about their lives and their families. You are enabling them to live their life on their terms as much as possible. That the things that are important to them are still honoured and factored into their life which is what makes private in-home palliative care the best option for someone you love.
As an independent private nurse, you must rely on yourself. Yes, you have outside professionals to call on but it’s really only you in that present moment. That’s when your life experiences, clinical knowledge and skills must guide you through dynamic challenges. From nursing someone that is bed-bound or hoisting them with a lifting machine in the most confined spaces. From preparing appropriate food because one is unable to eat normally or treating bed sores and managing wounds. From maintaining stoma bags and catheters, showering and washing the patient or providing medication assistance. It’s delivering these services carefully that gives quality and comfort to one’s life. Comfort is the essence of palliative care. No one wants to see their loved one in pain or dying in pain. Throughout my career, dying in pain is probably the number one fear expressed across the board.
When patients’ needs are met with care and compassion, they begin to glow. Their personalities, their stories, and their very being come to life. They thrive. I’m reminded of a former palliative care patient of mine. Robert was a highly intelligent and successful businessman. Apart from being a devoted husband and father, he was also a passionate conservationist and philanthropist. When I first met him, he was suffering from terminal prostate cancer and had high in-home care requirements. His wife Gladys struggled to find someone that was comfortable in maintaining the level of care that Robert required. After many enquiries and no-shows, I met Gladys and her daughter to discuss Robert’s needs. There was an instant connection and we just clicked. You must be able to click with your clients. During that meeting, I talked with Robert very briefly over the phone and he welcome me to their home. I couldn’t wait to get started. He was very conscious of the environment and their whole house was off the grid with its own energy supply. It took me a very short time to find my feet and soon I had a routine with Robert and his family. It was like clockwork. After my morning duties, he’d start working from his bed. He’d take phone calls and have meetings, managers calling for advice, and business people ordering products. He was meticulous and still very much in control of his business to the very end of his life. His family and staff would check in as well. The phone was always ringing. I’d also talk with Robert for hours about life in general, his adventures, and sometimes about mine as well. One of my favourite times was in the evening after our evening routine. Gladys would come in and spend time with Robert. I’ll never forget the look on his face. The glow, the love he felt for his wife. The way he looked at her. Gladys looked up to Robert. She loved, respected and admired him. As he was bedridden, Gladys was also invaluable to his business operations as well. One time, there was an overload of stock. Robert asked Gladys to buy a forklift and have his workers bring all the excess stock to his home to store in the shed at the back. The morning was cold and she went outside and measured the height of the shed door to make sure the forklift would fit. She did it in her pyjamas.
Towards the end, Robert was very weak and frail. He was sleeping more. But in an instant, he’d be awake again and working. He was taking phone orders from New Zealand on the day that he passed. That is what private palliative care aims to provide. It assists the person in a way that is dignified and respectful and eases discomfort so they can tie loose ends and say their goodbyes. Robert’s comfort just happened to be the frenetic energy of running his business and setting his family up well for when he’s not around. He left this world just as he wanted. He impacted many lives for the better, from helping start new lives in Australia by providing jobs to supporting projects that improve and sustain our environment.”