The importance of Dying Matters Awareness Week - Dr Sarah Bell
Dr Sarah Bell joined Garden House Hospice Care 10 years ago, and is our Medical Director. During that time, Sarah has broken down barriers relating to hospice care, championing living and dying well. Sarah spoke to us about why talking about death is so important this Dying Matters Awareness Week.
"One of the things I do as a palliative medicine specialist is to discuss patient's wishes about their last days of life care. Of course, if someone is still able to speak for themselves at this point, we would simply ask them what they want. If for any reason they can't speak for themselves, knowing what their wishes are allows us to care for them as they would have wanted.
"We ask about a range of things such as where patients want to be looked after and where they want to be when they die; if there are treatments they don't want during this period of their life; decisions relating to resuscitation, and anything related to the last period of their life.
"This conversation is emotional and can be quite hard. Despite this, what I see, time after time, is the peace this conversation brings to patients and families. Simply put, patients walk a little taller and families smile a little more broadly, once those important decisions are made and key people are informed.
"My wish for the future is for us all to feel able to talk about these important decisions as easily as we talk about our "bucket lists". We sometimes forget that "bucket list" comes from "kick the bucket" - that is, a list of our things we want to do before we die. If we can talk about our "bucket list" so easily and joyfully, can we start to talk about all our other wishes related to our dying with equal ease?
"One video that continues to make an impact on me is the ‘I didn't want that' film by Dying Matters. It was released over 10 years ago, but the message is still so valuable. Your wishes may be different to those of your loved ones and it's important to make sure your voice is heard to have the life, and death that's right for you."
