Gympie Today, Friday 5th July 2024, Page 19.
Author: GT Journalist Donna Jones.
Journal Article Extols Care
For years, Little Haven Palliative Care’s community-based care model has been held up as a better way to provide exceptional care to those members of the community wanting to maintain their dignity during their end-of-life transition.
It’s been recognised across the country for the benefits it provides to patients and their families, and for the cohesiveness between the different services and therapies, working together in a holistic framework.
Not to mention the benefits to the Queensland Health system, by, for the most part, keeping these patients out of hospitals and nursing homes.
A research article in an international industry journal has shown there is a symbiotic relationship between the Gympie community and Little Haven Palliative Care. In this photo Gympie Lions Club (represented by Glenn Williams) donated money to Little Haven Palliative Care (represented by Business Manager Sue Manton).
Recently, Little Haven has been the focus of an industry journal article, highlighting their model of care, which the authors called a “citizen organisation“.
The article was researched by a team from UniSC and was published internationally in Volume 18 of the Palliative Care and Social Practice Journal.
In the “plain language summary“, the authors, John Rosenburg, Trudi Flynn, Cindy Davis, Katharina Merollini, Josie Linn, and Doreen Nabukalu say the care service model at Little Haven is a perfect symbiotic relationship with the community.
“Families and communities work alongside clinical services, with community engagement influencing compassionate care and support of dying people, their families and communities,“ the article reads.
“Public Health Palliative Care promotes community engagement by community based palliative care services in equal partnerships between civic organisations, community members, patients and carers, and service providers.
“We undertook an evaluation of Little Haven’s model of care by speaking with current patients current and past carers, staff, volunteers and stakeholders about their experiences of Little Haven. “We found that Little Haven’s model contains the essential elements of a palliative care service and provides early access to holistic, patient/family-centred, specialised palliative care at little or no cost to users.
“They have strong community engagement with a strong background in community activism.
“We identified that Little Haven’s ‘being in the community’ goes beyond service provision or even sentiment.
“We observed a symbiotic relationship between the organisation and the community it supports in what we have termed the ‘citizen organisation’.
“The distinctive characteristic of the citizen organisation is its inseparability from the community in which it dwells,“ the summary reads.
To have such a glowing recommendation for the service from a respected source and to have it then published in a scientific journal on the subject, where the findings can be shared with the world is amazing news for a small community service that started right here in Gympie.
Business manager of Little Haven, Sue Manton said the recognition for the work the service does is immeasurable.
“It’s very exciting to be recognised for such a unique and comprehensive care model, world-leading, and developed right here in Gympie,“ she said.
END
Read the research paper published in Taylor & Francis Journal, Progress in Palliative Care > Science and the Art of Caring.
Click the papers title below to read it on the Taylor & Francis Journal.
Paper Authors:
- Dr John Rosenberg RN PhD, School of Health. Senior Lecturer, palliative care researcher. Project Lead.
- Dr Trudi Flynn BA (Psych Hons) PhD, School of Law and Society. Program Coordinator, Master of Counselling program. Counsellor.
- Prof. Cindy Davis BS (Psych Hons) MSW PhD, Professor, School of Law and Society. Discipline Lead, Social Work.
- Dr Katharina Merollini PhD, School of Health. Lecturer & Health Economist.
- Mrs Doreen Nabukalu MPH, School of Health. Research Assistant.
- Ms Josie Linn BSci(Hons) MCouns, School of Health. Research Assistant.
University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia