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Embracing Your Life
Arts Out West (Central West NSW)
- Launch event for Waving Not Drowning 1 blog
Don't DIS my ABILITY event details
Launch date
- 10 December 2009, 12noon - 2:00pm
Process
Christine telling her story through family
photographs, whilst Gwenda, her daughter,
records the story.
The Waving Not Drowning 1 blog is a place where palliative care patients and their carers can obtain information or links to resources and support in the local community and outside the local area. The blog creates an opportunity for people living with a chronic life threatening illness and the people who care for them to communicate to others in a similar situation by sending an entry which is posted on the blog where others can read and respond. The blog is also for people who have experienced the threat of being diagnosed with a life threatening illness, survived and would like to talk about their experience.
The blog is part of the Greater Western Area Health Service Palliative Care and Cancer Services Supportive Care program that services rural communities in New South Wales, including Bathurst, Orange, Parkes and Forbes and surrounding districts.
The blog began when Palliative and Supportive Care services and the Arts & Health Coordinator at Bathurst Base Hospital, Christine McMillan, recognised the potential for isolation in the rural Palliative Care community.
The Waving Not Drowning 1 blog aims to reduce the potential for isolation experienced by those in supportive and palliative care. The blog provides an access point for information about local support groups in Central Western NSW and also includes links to useful resources related to palliative and supportive care.
Trained volunteers and carers assist people in supportive and palliative care tell their stories. Stories have been published on the Waving Not Drowning 1 blog, which recogonises the value of the stories of the individual.
About the organisation
Arts OutWest
Arts OutWest is the regional arts development service for the Central West of New South Wales in Australia. It is managed by the Central West Regional Arts Board and its role is to promote, facilitate and advocate for the arts and cultural development of the communities in the region.
Program of Experience in the Palliative Approach
The Program of Experience in the Palliative Approach (PEPA) is an initiative of the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing, funded through the National Palliative Care Program. The overall aim of the program is to improve the quality and accessibility of palliative care services to all people with life-limiting conditions and their families.
Project partners
Arts OutWest, Greater Western Area Health, Program of Experience in the Palliative Approach, Bathurst and Forbes Palliative Care Volunteers.