MISSION STATEMENT
“To excel in providing community based palliative care and support to people in the Gympie region with a life-limiting illness, and their families, to live, die and grieve well”
Little Haven Palliative Care is dedicated to the delivery of the highest quality of care, support and education for those experiencing or anticipating serious illness and loss in the Gympie and surrounding region. Our team approach is committed to a quality management system to continually improve our reach and performance.
When anyone in our community is facing a terminal illness we want the hands of Little Haven to be there.
About Us
Little Haven Palliative Care was founded in 1980 by Mrs Phyllis Little’s desire for better care of the dying. Little Haven was an early pioneer of palliative care in Australia and is recognised as a provider of gold standard, community-based palliative care. People in our community know that if they or their loved ones are facing a terminal illness Little Haven will be there to support them and their advance care wishes. Providing care at the right time in the right place.
For more than 40 years Little Haven has developed, shaped and expanded our service to reflect the community’s needs. Little Haven has introduced improved supportive services to add to our comprehensive palliative care, such as complementary therapies, bereavement support and respite care, as well as providing volunteer support to the renal dialysis and chemotherapy unit, setting the standards for all Australians.
At the heart of our mission is enhancing quality of life so people can live as fully, independently and comfortably as possible. Our model of care values early access to palliative care at any time and genuine 24/7, on-call support to minimise need for hospital presentations.
Little Haven has a long history in Qld of enabling people in our community to
- receive health and social care that supports their wellbeing, irrespective of their diagnosis, sex, gender, age, socioeconomic background or proximity to death
- discuss and plan for a future possible decline in health, preferably before a crisis occurs, and be supported to retain independence for as long as possible
- know how to help and support each other at times of increased health need and in bereavement, recognising the importance of families and communities working alongside formal services.
“To the team at Little Haven. Such beautiful care you all gave to my husband while he was so very ill. It’s so comforting to have such wonderful nurses out there, knowing when called you would be there. I could not have done without your kind help.” – Family Member
SERVICE AREA:
Little Haven provides palliative services to the Gympie region and surrounding areas, covering a population of approximately 55 000 over an area of 9000 km².
The Gympie local government area has an older demographic, well above the state average for population by age group (24.5% of Gympie’s population aged over 65 years compared to the Queensland average of 16.1% aged over 65 years) with this trend predicted to continue in the next 20 years. Almost half (46.1%) of the region’s residents are in the lowest quintile for socio-economic disadvantage and have a higher rate of mental health problems (Gympie 25.9%; Qld 22.7%).
OVERVIEW
Admission to Little Haven’s services have consistently increased each year. In 2020–21 Little Haven supported 419 clients — 254 palliative admissions and 165 bereavement support clients.
Little Haven’s clinical team consists of
- specialist nurses on call 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, averaging 90 visits per week and an additional 18 after hours calls weekly. Every day five nurses visit the various areas in our region.
- social workers providing assistance to access support services and provide bereavement counselling
- respite care volunteers assisting families as needed
- complementary therapist volunteers providing a suite of therapies to improve comfort and relaxation.
Our team work with the treating doctors by taking quality palliative care to the home, providing comprehensive support for the physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual needs of the individual.
Little Haven is a not-for-profit charity receiving Qhealth funding along with generous and widespread support from the local community and our hard working volunteers to fund our 24/7 care services.
Our history of volunteering, support and fundraising in this community not only bears a responsibility to deliver exceptional care, but has helped shape compassion in our community. Gympie has engaged with our vision that it takes a village to care for their dying and the ripples of this vision have spread out into the community.
A compassionate community caring for our own.
Further reading, University of Sunshine Coast Research Paper:
A Service and Economic Evaluation of Little Havens Model of Care
