One of the things I was keen to develop was a closer working relationship with the palliative care team. I went and spoke to them about my understanding of general spiritual care as opposed to religious ministrations and the cross over with some of what they did in helping people to die well.
Spiritual care can be described as a search for meaning, understanding and belonging. It’s asking questions like “Why me?” or “What will happen to me when I die?” or “What will happen to my family?” We all have a spirituality. Only some of us have a religion. Religion is a hook that some of us hang our spirituality on.
The palliative care team agreed there was a lot of cross over so it was decided to invite me to the weekly multi-disciplinary team meeting. From there I have become very much part of the extended team.
As part of those regular weekly meetings two elderly women were brought to my attention. One was 82 and the other 91. They were both dying and approached death in a very matter of fact way. The 82 year old had just been diagnosed with cancer and decided she didn’t want any further tests or treatment and just wanted to be left with as much dignity as possible for the time that she had.
The 91 year old was very frail physically but was emotionally very robust. She had a no nonsense approach to life and death. She had put her affairs in order and was really looking forward to meeting her maker. As a chaplain I deal with so many people who don’t want to die or don’t want to talk about the possibility of dying. It’s refreshing when I meet people who can be open about it.
The work of the palliative care team is quite extensive. It used to be only people with a diagnosis of cancer. Now they take referrals from anyone who is coming to the end of their lives. That could be things like heart failure or kidney failure as well as terminal cancer. I value being part of the team and having an opportunity on a regular basis to discuss any concerns.
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