JourneyOnline
Wesley palliative care is not new
I read with interest your article entitled “Prepare to Meet your Maker” (Journey, July 2014, page 12).
I found this enlightening and informative and was pleased to read of the work being undertaken in palliative care at the Wesley Hospital. However I and several ex-colleagues were somewhat taken aback by the opening comments in the article.
We need to correct your erroneous assertion that 12 years ago palliative care did not exist at the Wesley. There may not have been a dedicated unit as such, but in the 90s palliative care was very much part of the hospital’s ethos.
A dedicated palliative care team was formed and comprised nurses, nurse counsellors, therapists, oncologists and chaplains. This group of caring staff under the aegis of Judy Marshall, the then director of nursing, and Libby White, assistant director of nursing-oncology, provided skilled and compassionate care to those patients at the latter stages of their lives.
Joyce Pagan
Banora Point Uniting Church
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