Joan Ryan, Silchar, Assam

John (centre)  with Dr Geeta Joshi (right) and colleague

Ahmedabad, Gujurat, February, 2019

I have a nursing background and have worked in palliative care for over 25 years. Clinical experience in the community was with St Vincent’s Home Care, and Cittamani and Karuna Hospice Services. I also worked with Metro South Palliative Care’s consultation liaison teams at Princess Alexandra and Mater Hospitals.

I currently work as Director of Learning & Development for Queensland Health’s Centre for Palliative Care Research & Education (CPCRE). That role involves overseeing as well as helping develop and deliver education CPCRE provides around the state. I am responsible for PEPA Queensland, which also delivers education to health professionals, as well as providing observational placements for health professionals with specialist palliative care teams.

I have held executive positions with Palliative Care Nurses Australia, and Palliative Care Queensland, peak body for palliative care in the state, where I am currently President. While an academic at Australian Catholic University, I co-wrote and taught a Graduate Diploma in Palliative Care. With a CPCRE colleague, I wrote an online Continuing Professional Education palliative care module for Queensland University of Technology, for which I am the course coordinator. That unit runs online once a year; I am responsible for the academic aspect of the unit – maintaining the unit website, interacting with students online, and marking their assignments.

My motivation for volunteering for Project Hamrahi is that I have always felt it important to give back to others in whatever ways possible. With my experience and expertise in palliative care, and my education skills, it’s important I share that with others who may be interested. Finally, I have a lifelong commitment to social justice and equal rights, which includes helping promote access to palliative care and pain and other symptom management wherever that access is not readily available.

Project Hamrahi mentor in Ahmedabad, Gujurat

Hi, I’m Sandi

Project Hamrahi mentor in Ahmedabad, Gujurat

Hi, I’m Toni and I have been working as a registered nurse in regional NSW for the past 28 years. My nursing career has taken a few twists and turns over the years, with the past ten years spent with the community palliative care team. I have also spent three years working as a Funeral Director. Part of my role has included mentoring new staff, educating medical students and demystifying death and dying within our community. I am passionate about facilitating patient and carer empowerment in end of life care and will be forever grateful to those families who have allowed me into their lives during such a sacred time.

Why APLI:
Well, I have reached a time in my life where my children are more independent, allowing me the time to focus on projects outside my own community. A recent encounter in Indonesia inspired me to contribute more to developing communities. India has always fascinated me and a conversation with a work colleague, and APLI member Sarah, convinced me to jump on board. I look forward to learning and sharing knowledge with like-minded people to achieve the common goal of relieving suffering, creating connection and friendships.

Ed Gaudoin- Clinical Nurse Consultant, Metropolitan Palliative Care Consultancy Service (MPaCCS)

I have a 15yr history working in Consultative Nursing Palliative Care positions across the acute, hospice, community and residential aged care sectors.

 I describe myself as a “bedside nurse” and I work to optimise compassionate and competent palliative care especially within the aged care realm. I bring an energy and passion in the care of the dying and driven to support and collaborate with families and staff in providing excellent end of life care.

Currently working as a Clinical Nurse Consultant for the Metropolitan Palliative Care Consultancy Service (MPaCCS) in Perth, the role has developed my skills in project development and education.

Education and mentoring give me the greatest satisfaction, seeing confidence and capability grow within a service is very rewarding. Working at grassroots level, through bedside learning, and in development at head office level, I have seen services provide a higher standard of care and outcomes for all that are involved.

I have an Indian background and I have always wanted to invest my skills back where my roots lie. Meeting Dr Rajagopal 10 years ago at an Asia Pacific Hospice Network conference in Perth has given me the chance to fulfill my dream. I have visited Dr Rajagopal ‘s team at TIPS in Trivandrum, Kerala, for 10 days providing supportive education to medical and nursing teams and getting a good taste of the social, cultural, and financial challenges that are met by the team. I am keen to continue my support.

]]> https://apli.net.au/lisa-king/ Wed, 15 Jul 2015 03:45:59 +0000 http://apli.net.au/?p=1712

I am a registered nurse with twenty-five years of cancer nursing experience in the UK and more recently in Australia. My passion for cancer nursing developed during my training and has continued throughout my career. Since completing a Diploma in Cancer Nursing at the Royal Marsden Hospitals in 1994, I have gained experience in a variety of clinical settings caring for patients with many tumour types. Spending time in oncology and haematology outpatient units, I gained various clinical skills and an appreciation for educating/training other practitioners. I firmly believe that palliative care can benefit patients and their loved ones throughout treatment. In 2012 I completed a Master of Nursing.  I currently work for a cancer treatment resource website, overseeing medical oncology chemotherapy protocols and nursing content; working collaboratively with Australian cancer clinicians to ensure that the content is contemporary, evidence-based and relevant to clinical practice, therefore continuing to assist cancer patients and clinicians in a different way.

I have a passion for travel and experiencing different cultures having visited India previously. I am acutely aware of the privilege afforded me by birthplace and seek ways to give back. I am a humanitarian, passionately driven to redress inequities in health. The APLI project Hamrahi has offered an opportunity to share my knowledge and skills to empower the cancer care team towards better outcomes for those in their care. I believe it is a privilege to care for people at the end of their life and support their loved ones during this time.

I’m from county Kerry in the southwest of Ireland. I studied medicine and completed all of my medical training including specialist training in Palliative Care in Ireland. I also did a Masters in Medical Ethics and Law- my thesis theme being Justice in Advanced Cancer. Following completion of this I relocated to Australia in 2014 and worked as a Palliative Care Fellow in Barwon Health, Geelong for a year. I am now working as a Palliative Care specialist in The Royal Darwin Hospital. From here we cover all of the Top End rural and remote communities. It constantly amazes me how many similarities there are between remote communities in Australia and those I have worked with in the developing world.

My interest in working and supporting important initiatives in the developing world was sparked when I first travelled to Zimbabwe as a teenager to visit my brother who was working there. In university I was an active committee member on our fundraising project (Surgeon Noonan Project) to send funding and enthusiastic medical students to Africa. Through this project I did my medical elective in Mwanza, Tanzania and was blown away by the enthusiasm of my colleagues despite their hardships. During my training in Palliative Care I had the privilege of working in Hospice Africa Uganda in Kampala with the wondrous Dr. Anne Merriman for 6 months. Her ability to structure palliative care provision to suit its location and her drive to legalise opioids on the continent of Africa is quite incredible. Her work has and will result in comfort for millions.

I remained an active member on the Hospice Africa Ireland Committee from 2007-2014. I was delighted to learn of APLI through Dr.David Brumley and Dr. Rosalee Shaw. I think that we are privileged to live in lands of plenty. The concept of justice is very important to me in my practice. I believe that everyone should have access the care they need despite location or wealth and I feel lucky to have the opportunity to offer support and experience to those who share this goal.

Access to appropriate symptom management and holistic end of life care for people with a life limiting illness is the hallmark of a compassionate society. In the 1990’s, I spent 7 years in Tanzania, East Africa and had the privilege of working alongside a team providing care for people suffering and dying from HIV AIDS. Experiencing the poverty and paucity of even the most basic resources, and despite these restrictions, the willingness of the people to increase their understanding and improve care was humbling. We have much to learn from these colleagues and the patients for whom they care and even a small involvement in an Hamrahi project may contribute to better outcomes for the dying.

Such experiences coupled with my subsequent training in general and palliative medicine have inspired an ongoing interest in working with communities less developed and financially resourced than those I now work in. We have much to learn from these colleagues and patients as well as hopefully something to offer and I look forward to an ongoing partnership with the communities that Project Hamrahi gives me the opportunity to visit.

Project:Patna 2012;  Llakshadweep 2013-  ;  Ahmedabad 2019-

I am a registered nurse very excited to be at the beginning of my career in palliative care. I am currently working in community palliative care at Melbourne City Mission in Melbourne.

From my first clinical placements as a student nurse, I knew I wanted to work in palliative  care. In my first two years of nursing I worked at Peter MacCallum Hospital.  I find great fulfillment caring for people at the end of their life    – the very raw and real connection with patients is something I truly value. At Peter MacCallum I was also a member of the Palliative Care Champion Group which further sparked my interest in the area. I then completed a Graduate Diploma in Advanced Nursing Practice in Oncology and Palliative Care at the University of Melbourne.

I have also spent some time working in Intensive Care at The Alfred Hospital.

I have a very keen sense of adventure and am always endeavoring to experience new ways of living and appreciate the World beyond my own. Over the years I have traveled extensively in countries such as Zambia, The Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Nepal and China. In 2008 I lived in the Philippines teaching English to children in the slums of Manila.

WHY APLI

I have always had a passion for connecting with others; it brings me so much happiness. Ensuring that human dignity is maintained, even just in small ways, is something that drives me and is very close to my heart. As a child I was brought-up with the mantra “To whom much is given much is expected”, and this has remained at the forefront of everything I do.

I constantly count myself fortunate to have the privilege of sharing and participating in patients’ end-of-life care.

APLI has offered the perfect opportunity to combine my love of travel and nursing with my passion for palliative care and adventure. I hope through building relationships with my colleagues in India over time we can work towards building palliative care for patients in India.

I am a palliative care physician working at PeterMacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia.

While training in palliative medicine  in the UK, I heard Jan Stjernswald talk about the first Indian Association of Palliative Medicine conference to be held in Varanasi in 1994.  I was inspired to attend the conference. That was the first of many for me, for several years, with several conferences combined with extended visits for teaching, mentoring, and just getting to know the colleagues in India. Also in the UK, I met Joseph O’Neill, another palliative medicine trainee, who set up British Aid for Hospices Abroad. This was the inspiration for Australasian Palliative Link International (APLI), which I established in 1996.

As for motivations, for me, it probably goes back to my childhood and the encouragement we always had to consider those less fortunate and to provide help where possible. Something about India in particular connects with me, something hard to define or explain. I think my first visit was so intense and the exposure to ‘the life force” there was mindblowing, and made my own culture seem so lacklustre at that time.

At times, I wonder what I can offer of any use when daily realities are so different. The warmth of friendships and the ongoing desire of many Indian colleagues for contact and support have encouraged me to continue.