Services

Hospice Support Care

Hospice support care is provided for people of all aged who are living with a terminal or life-limiting illness.

Our hospice support houses, which are regular houses located in the community, will be adapted and equipped to provide end of life care. This will include:

• Respite care
• Outreach and in-house support services
• Grief and bereavement counselling services and support groups
• Carer support
• Complimentary therapies and pampering
• Volunteer support
• Spiritual support
• Equipment
• Meals
• A flexible, family-friendly and peaceful environment
• Access to information and resources

We will provide high quality hospice support services in partnership with other hospice, palliative care and community nursing services on the coast. Our paid and unpaid staff will include hospice coordinators (palliative care nurses), a hospice and grief counselor, personal care workers, volunteer coordinators, housekeepers, gardeners, maintenance people and hospice support volunteers.

This service to the community is free of personal cost. Our first guest house, with a capacity for two guests and their families is now open.

Please contact the Sunshine Coast Community Hospice for further information.

Counselling and Other Support Services:

Face to face, individual, couples or family counselling for people who are living with a terminal illness or receiving palliative or hospice care services. This may also include:

• Someone who has recently received a diagnosis of a life-limiting illness.
• Carer support and information
• Bereavement counselling for people who have experienced the death of a loved one
• Bereavement support groups
• Counselling for children and young people
• Bereavement counselling and support groups for parents who have experienced the loss of a child
• Men's drop in grief groups
• Pet bereavement counselling
• Telephone counselling support, information and referrals.

Education Services:

1. Hospice volunteer training programs
2. Health care professional education, including:

• Responding to loss and grief
• Locating spiritual comfort
• Enhancing communication skills at the end of life
• Reflecting on the ethics of practice
• Aspects of care for people living with Motor Neurone Disease
• Clinical supervision and de-briefing

Palliative Care in Australia: Professor Ian Maddocks

Palliative Care in Australia has developed as a specialist field since the 1980s.

Professor Ian Maddocks developed an interest in palliative care from reading an article in the Guardian Weekly in 1978 and after promoting the development of palliative care in Adelaide for some years was appointed foundation Professor of Palliative Care at Flinders University in 1988.

As a professor, he pursued a vigorous program of teaching and research along with busy patient care commitments. In 1995 he introduced the International Institute of Hospice Studies as a facility of Flinders University and from this base has mounted teaching workshops in 7 countries of South East Asia, also delivering lectures in many other centres.

Ian Maddocks was elected first president of the Australian Association of Hospice and Palliative Care and was appointed the first president of the Australian and New Zealand Society for Palliative Medicine.