Rambling Rich – February 2021
Happy New Year! Welcome 2021! I know it sounds strange to wish you Happy New Year when in reality you will be reading this way past 1st Jan 2021.
The new year always offers me the chance to reflect and look ahead. Looking back, 2020 was a bit tough with so many challenges around the world over the past 12 months. But I certainly had a lot of learnings, not only at a personal but also a professional level. Our world has changed and we have changed with it – Waipuna Hospice has changed too.
We hope our patients and families have noticed the changes for the better. Our service delivery model has been re-developed and changed to make services more person-centred and needs-based. This involves the development of interdisciplinary healthcare practices and the formation of three interdisciplinary teams, each one responsible for a geographic area (termed North, South, and Central).
What is interdisciplinary care? It is care provided by a team made up of a group of healthcare providers from different fields who work together or towards the same goal. This way they can provide the best care or best outcome for a patient or group of patients. The team is made up of expertise and specialists in pharmacy, nursing, case management, social work, counselling, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, medicine, cultural liaison or kaiāwhina, to name a few!
We are really excited about this change as it is widely recognised as the gold standard for providing palliative care in our community.
In line with the quote “the only constant in life is change”..…we will be seeing more challenges not only at Waipuna Hospice but across the whole health arena. Change is not always easy. I want to recognise and thank the whole team at Waipuna Hospice for pushing through with our strategic plan to help provide a more complete service for our patients.
2021 will present more obstacles – but we will continue to thrive within the challenges and move forward to meet our mission statement – high quality end of life care for all.
This article was first published in our newsletter – Waipuna Connections, issue 76.
