This week is National Palliative Care Week 2024 (19–25 May), Australia’s largest initiative to raise awareness of end-of-life treatment. To mark the occasion, Palliative Care ACT has launched a new podcast series called ‘Puddles of Life’.

The series will run over 12 months, and includes issues centred around advance care planning, the role of paramedics in palliative care, and how to start a conversation about end of life care. It aims to engage the community in conversations about planning and end of life. Talking about what you want and who you want to speak on your behalf are matters of life and death, organisers say.

ACT health minister Rachel Stephen-Smith said the podcast will help to raise awareness about death, dying, and planning ahead.

“Palliative Care ACT does important work to support our community’s understanding of palliative care through empowering people to have greater control over matters of life and death,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.

“But this understanding doesn’t just happen – we need to be able to engage in these challenging conversations. The format set out in the podcast– which is entertaining as well as informative – could be just the thing to make it easier to talk about what you want as you approach the end of your life.”

Palliative Care ACT board president, Dr Louise Mayo AM, agrees, stating: “We need to be able to talk about our end of life care as readily as we talk about any other form of planning.”

She also talks about the importance of engaging with younger people to consider their goals and values, and to complete an Advance Care Plan using the help and resources available uniquely in the ACT.

“Canberra has some wonderful resources to help people engage in these conversations,” Dr Mayo said. “Not many jurisdictions have access to this support, and Palliative Care ACT is right at the heart of this network of supports.”

Palliative Care ACT worked closely with Janine Rath, manager of Advance Care Planning ACT, to develop the series, and will continue to contribute to the series.

For more information about National Palliative Care Week, visit: National Palliative Care Week 2024 – the nation’s largest annual awareness raising initiative – Palliative Care Australia.