In 2020, Albany became the first place in Australia to have a Compassionate Community Charter and became part of a global movement that encourages our whole community to be involved in supporting people, their families, and carers through serious illness or at the end of life.
The City of Albany, collaborated with the WA Primary Health Alliance, The Albany Community Hospice, the Great Southern Compassionate Communities Network, and the communities of Albany to develop the Compassionate Albany Charter, the first of its kind in Australia, to encourage each of us to embrace the values of compassion in our everyday lives.
This Charter represents a commitment by Albany, as a community, to embrace a view of health and wellbeing that encourages empathy and support for each other throughout life, and especially during hardship, illness, loneliness, death, and grief. The role of the City of Albany is to be the custodian or holder of the Charter on behalf of the community. We continue to work with our friends and the communities across Albany to make our city a more compassionate place to live.
What is a compassionate community?
"A city is not merely a place to work and access services but equally a place to enjoy support in the safety and protection of each other’s company, in schools, workplaces, places of worship and recreation, in cultural forums and social networks anywhere within the city’s influence, even to the end of our days".
Compassionate City Charter, Allan Kellehear*
Compassionate communities are a core part of public health approaches to palliative care, end of life care and bereavement. The term was coined by Allan Kellehear in the mid-2000s to describe communities which play a much stronger role in the care of people at end of life and their families and carers through illness, dying, death and bereavement.
Developed with extensive community input, the Compassionate Community Charter for Albany recognises individuals, families, neighbourhoods, workplaces, schools, local government, communities, faith-based, voluntary and other organisations and services that all play a part in talking about death, dying and illness and providing compassionate support for those affected throughout ill health, during death and in bereavement.
Toolkits, resources , videos and information on Compassionate Communities can be found here
*Abel, J, Kellehear, A and Karapliagou, A, ‘Palliative care – the new essentials’, Annals of Palliative Medicine 7(Suppl 2) 2018.
What is Compassionate Care?
When someone is unwell or dying, it is estimated that on average they only spend a very small amount of time receiving formal medical care (from a medical professional). The vast majority of the time, they receive love, support, care, and affection from loved ones, friends, family, the community, their pets, or in front of the TV, reading etc.
This support is often referred to as ‘informal’ care or network care and can be as simple as putting the bins out or dropping the kids to school. It is called informal or network care as it
Why do we need a Charter?
The networks and support that we call upon in times of hardship are usually ones we already have, which is one of several reasons why social connection and belonging is so important. We know that social connection is also a key health determinant. People who have strong social networks are more likely to have better health outcomes.
Albany has a very strong sense of community, as we learnt through the engagement process for the Charter, not to forget that with help from the Albany community, the Albany Community Hospice was established in 1989, which was one of the first in Australia!
Despite this however, when faced with hard times many of us still often struggle to ask for and accept help. Many of us also feel uncomfortable approaching people to offer them help. There are also many people in our community who, for a range of reasons, social, financial or health, do not have the informal networks of people to rely on during times of hardship.
What can you do to help Albany become more Compassionate?
Doing your bit to make Albany a more compassionate community starts at home with the compassion we show to our loved ones; in our communities with how we treat and look out for our neighbours; and in our city as we all look out for each other.
We will all be touched by death at one point in our lives, having a conversation about it and how it affects you and those around you can help support one another during life’s toughest experiences.
Being a compassionate neighbour might be something as simple as putting out your neighbour’s bin if they are ill / unable to do so; watering their garden; or helping to pick up groceries. Being compassionate doesn’t mean changing your lifestyle but merely showing kindness, understanding and compassion towards everyone, including yourself.
People create opportunities every day to:
- Ask someone ‘are you OK?’
- Stop to listen,
- Offer and / or accept help,
- And, Be kind.
Help normalise death, remove stigma around talking about death and help people enjoy their lives up to the end of it. The Albany Death Café which meets once a month at Albany Library offers a place to do just that.
What support is there in Albany?
Albany has a long history of compassion, Albany Community Hospice was one of the first in Australia! It opened back in 1989 (official opening in 1990) and remains to this day the only community hospice in WA. The hospice does not seek to compete, but rather complement other health care provisions to form an integrated palliative care service. The WA Primary Health Alliance and the Primary Health Network also provide formal healthcare provision for palliative care in the City, as do the likes of Health and Aged Care Group, Hall & Prior, at Clarence Estate.
There are national awareness days, such as Dying to Know Day an annual day of recognition in August. Palliative Care Week an annual campaign aiming to raise awareness about palliative care, its benefits, and advocate to ensure quality palliative care is available for all, when and where they need it. And, the monthly meet at the Albany Death Café, all of which are supported by the City of Albany.
Mental Health
If you, or anyone you know is experiencing a mental Health emergency call 000 or visit your local emergency department, however, if it is not an emergency but you would like some support of someone to speak to about mental health, there is a downloadable list of service providers in Albany and the wider Great Southern Region here
Palliative Care Week
Palliative Care Week is an annual week-long event, held in May each year, that focuses on physical, emotional, spiritual and social aspects of care. Palliative Care Week aims to raise awareness about palliative care and its benefits, and advocate to ensure quality palliative care is available for all, when and where they need it.
Early access to palliative care helps people to maintain their quality of life by managing pain and symptoms. It’s never too soon to start the conversation about matters of life and death.
The City of Albany helps to coordinate events across Albany for Palliative Care Week, you can find the events here
If you are thinking about hosting an event for Palliative Care Week, there are handy tips and ideas here, you can also tell the City of Albany about your event if you would like us to promote it by emailing [email protected] or ringing 08 6820 3008
Dying to Know Day
Dying to Know Day, held annually on the 8th August, aims to destigmatizing the topic of death. Sparked by the publication of a quirky self-help book by Andrew Anastasios about death and dying, Dying to Know Day is now an international movement. Equally devoted to the living and the dead. We are not only encouraged to consider our own passing from life but also the already completed passing of our friends and family members. In addition to end-of-life planning, Dying to Know Day is also about grief, bereavement, and coping with loss
How you can celebrate Dying to Know Day
Host a dinner party
One of the recommended initiatives touted around the World is the Death over Dinner program, which encourages participants to gather their loved ones in their homes for the express purpose of discussing each guest’s death wishes and priorities. Throw together some comfort food and bring a notepad, and maybe some tissues, to the dining table so that you can take notes.
Read the book
If you’re interested in Dying to Know Day but aren’t quite ready to participate, there are plenty of books to read and videos you can watch, including the book that started it all, Dying to Know: Bringing Death to Life by Andrew Anastasios, which may be a great middle-ground.
Begin writing your will
Regardless of your age, your last will and testament will be equally valuable to your family members. Why not sit down and begin writing out your wishes? You can always edit the document as circumstances shift and change. The truth is that death does not only arrive through old age or terminal illness. Car accidents, allergic reactions, and even snake bites can be fatal. Even if you’ve got decades of living ahead of you, you’ll want to use this day to make a tentative plan for your unlikely death.
Events
The city of Albany also helps to coordinate events for Dying to Know Day, you will be able to find details of the events here, closer to the date.
If you are thinking about hosting an event for Dying to Know Day, there are handy tips and ideas here, you can also tell the City of Albany about your event if you would like us to promote it by emailing [email protected] or ringing 08 6820 3008.
The City of Albany collaborates with other organisations and service providers to organise and manage events around Dying to Know Day, a list of the currently organised events for this year's D2KD can be found here
A Funny End
Whether it is today, tomorrow, ten years from now, or a hundred. Ultimately, whichever way you go, you’d hope it’s not like one of these:
SHOOTING A CACTUS
David Grundman in 1982 fired several close-range shots with his shotgun at a Saguaro Cactus. The cacti, which stood 8m (26 feet) tall. dropped a 1.2m (four foot) branch on top of Grundman’s head - crushing him to death. Grundman’s death is immortalized in the song Saguaro, written by the Texas band, the Austin Lounge Lizards.
BEER FLOOD
On 17th October in 1814 the London Brewery, Meux & Co, had huge 6.7m (22 foot) tall wooden vats of beer rupture and rush into the streets of Tottenham Court Road. In total, 1.5 million liters (323,000 imperial gallons) of beer flooded the town, and eight people died. To this day the incident is referred as the London Beer Flood.
DRIVING WITH DYNAMITE
On 30th September 1996, Paul Stiller and his wife were bored and intoxicated. To cure their boredom, they decided to go for a midnight drive - with a couple sticks of dynamite. Their brilliant idea was to light the dynamite and throw it out the window. However, due to their inebriated state they forgot to roll down the car windows. The incident killed Paul and left his wife in critical condition.
TITANIC POSE
Emma Black from Plymouth in Devon, UK. had been heavily drinking on a ferry from Spain to England when she plunged to her death in 2003. Apparently, her untimely end occurred after she stretched her arms out in the famous Kate Winslet pose from the Titanic movie. The pose caused Emma to lose her balance and fall from the ninth deck into the water. Her body washed up on the French coast eight months later.