It’s been said that “It takes a village to raise a child”, which emphasises the communal effort required for the upbringing of a child. The same could be said of the all-in efforts and all-round resources required to take care of a person with terminal illness at the end of life. 

In this episode, we discuss community and its importance in palliative care. Palliative care is not the sole province of multidisciplinary care teams; the field has widened to include grassroots organisations, social service agencies, ethnic and religious groups, workplaces, neighbours, extended family members, friends, and the community at large, all of whom play important roles across different settings. They support those at end-of-life and their families through the progression of illness, death and bereavement.

This is an aspirational vision of what a compassionate community in action would look like. Compassionate communities are part of a broader public health approach to palliative care and serve to improve access to services, increase the capacity of caregiving, raise death literacy, and boost social, emotional and spiritual support so as to enable as many people at their end-of-life the comfort and ease of dying at home surrounded by their nearest and dearest family and friends.

Interviews:
Arathi, Breast Cancer Patient at Age 31, and Husband Pranav
Tea Han Guat, Volunteer
Dr Joanna Lau, Resident Physician, Palliative Care Department, Tan Tock Seng Hospital

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Hosted by Sharon Chen & Sim Bee Hia
Executive Producers - Sandra Zhang & Germaine Tan
Produced, Recorded & Mixed by Kenn Delbridge