Palliative care for 25 years
THIS month marks the Tweed Palliative Care Multidisciplinary Team's 25th anniversary.
It is also fittingly Palliative Care Week this week.
The team's Gillian Cooper said they had managed more than 5000 people from the area and surrounds.
"The palliative care team consists of medical director Dr Graeme Burger, clinical nurse consultant Virginia Morris, community palliative care liaison nurse Leone Hartley and palliative care community nurses.
"It also includes palliative care social worker Donna Brooks, Tweed palliative support volunteer co-ordinator Meredith Dennis, chaplains, a resident medical officer for palliative care, palliative care oncology nurses, Allied Health Care professionals and representatives from Oz Care and Blue Care."
Ms Cooper said the team was "lucky enough" to have Bond, Griffith and Southern Cross University medical and nursing students involved in meetings.
"The team was formed in May 1987," she said.
"Tweed Heads Hospital was one of the first to put into practice the 'palliative care approach' to patients diagnosed with life-limiting illnesses.
"The team conducts daily ward rounds and weekly multidisciplinary meetings and, as a group, has greatly improved the quality of life of palliative patients in the Tweed area."
