WAPHA Great Southern in partnership with the City of Albany recently launched the Compassionate Albany Charter. It was launched at the Albany Entertainment Centre on the 22 October with 75 guests. The Charter was launched by the Mayor of the City of Albany, Dennis Wellington with guest Speaker Dr John Rosenberg, President of Public Health Palliative Care International. Read more HERE.
You can read the Charter HERE and HERE.
The Charter was developed by the City of Albany and WA Primary Health Alliance with the Albany community. The community participated in a series of workshops. We have made a short film of what the participants said at the workshops.
The purpose of the Charter is to guide and encourage our community, service providers, businesses, organisations, groups and clubs to work together to create a more compassionate Albany; an Albany that is resilient, responsive and understands we can’t get through difficult times on our own. Compassionate Communities is a global movement that ‘traditionally’ encourages communities and neighbourhood networks to play a much stronger role in supporting people, their families and carers at the end of life. It comes from a public health approach that encourages people to adopt an understanding that health is everyone’s responsibility, not just doctors or health services.
When listening to the local Albany community, compassion was about much more than end of life. The Albany community believe compassion should be embedded in all aspects of everyday life and that everyone has a responsibility to support each other through hardship. Whether this be supporting someone facing the end of life or any of the other challenges life often throws at us.
The Charter has 6 key aspirations:
Shared Humanity – Compassion comes from the heart and starts with me
Community Mindedness – Let’s ask what can I do for my community
Compassionate Organisations – Let’s grow recognise and reward
Compassionate - Places and Spaces
Leadership and Advocacy – Let’s lead by sharing what we’ve learnt and listening with our hearts
Communication and Information Sharing - Let’s listen, Let’s ask, Let’s talk, Let’s share
We have developed postcards (see example below) for promoting the aspirations and inspiring people to be ’more compassionate’.
Heather and Tony’s Story - End of Life at Home
Heather and Tony’s Story is a 12-minute film that tells the story of a couple, Tony Speechley and his wife Heather Sanderson and the people who came together to support them through the final months of Tony’s terminal illness. Heather and Tony’s Story Community Support for End of Life at home