Palliative Care Awareness Week: Compassionate Communities NW calls on Derry people to become more informed of palliative care benefits

September 12- 18 marks Palliative Care Awareness Week 2021.

This is a time to acknowledge, celebrate, and share the achievements and benefits of Palliative Care throughout Ireland.

Now in it’s 8th year, Palliative Care Week was an initiative started by the All-Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care (AIIHPC).

The purpose of the week is to raise awareness of the benefits of palliative care, to show how palliative care can makes a difference to those living with a life-limiting illness, and to recognise those working and volunteering within the palliative care sector.

This year’s theme is ‘Palliative Care: It’s more than you think.’

Palliative care helps people live as well as they can for as long as they can.

Compassionate Communities NW is calling on people in Derry to become more informed about palliative care and its benefits. Throughout the week, the team will host an online social media campaign and be will be in the city asking people to participate in a survey to gauge what they understand about palliative care.

Sharon Williams, who leads the project, explained the importance of knowing what palliative care is and it’s the benefits, ‘We know that people often associate palliative care with hospice and end of life. Sadly, and all too often, people only begin to understand what palliative care is after a diagnosis, when they and their family are in a state of crisis. With that comes confusion which adds to stress and anxiety and can delay a person receiving palliative care. Our objective during Palliative Care Week is to raise general awareness making early intervention and access to appropriate care more likely. Palliative care improves quality of life for people living with advanced illness and age frailty but it also provides support to those closest to them’.

Get involved online through Facebook page Compassionate Communities NW, twitter @CompassionateNW or website compassionatecommunitiesnw.com

Let’s open up the conversation and demystify palliative care.