Palliative Care Week 2025
16 May 2025
If you walk through the doors of Hobart’s Whittle Palliative Care Unit, known as the Whittle Ward, you may see some painted flowers, knitted mushrooms, colourful creatures and felt insects.
These crafts have been created by patients, staff and community members to add pops of colour inside and outside the unit.
“We've been trying to incorporate, at least once a year on the unit, a project that allows us to involve staff, families, patients and the community and in doing that, we get the word out more about palliative care in an open discussion,” Meredith Bennett, Enrolled Nurse said.
“This year our theme was to highlight our garden which is an asset that we have on the unit that many patients appreciate, that they can open a door and get fresh air or sit outside.”
Registered Nurse, Michelle Kelly, said the project, as well as specific craft objects, provide a sense of calm and healing for patients and their families.
“We have a lot of knitted hearts as well which patients will hold in their hands and then family take them afterwards,” she said.
The garden is displayed in light of Palliative Care Week (11 – 17 May) – a time to raise awareness of palliative care and to encourage important conversations that many find difficult to have.
“It’s an opportunity to have a conversation about palliative care – I think there remains some fear around death and dying, it’s not something people sit naturally with,” said Angela Kosmeyer, Nurse Unit Manager at the Whittle Ward
“Palliative care is the care of a person and their family when they have a life limiting illness and quality of life is the focus of care, so we focus on symptom management, comfort and looking at what patients and their families need.”
Angela said this year’s theme, ‘what’s your plan?’, is a great way to encourage people to consider and share what they would want if they became ill.
“The benefits are that the patient will get the treatment that they would like – everybody is different, everybody has different needs, different values, what’s important to them, culturally what’s important to them so we need to understand each individual and the person who can speak for them, if they are unable to, is the people closest to them because they’ve had the opportunity to have those conversations,” she said.
View more information about accessing palliative care services