Committed to the cause

“We're all there because we want to make sure hospice continues into the future,” Mrs Powell said.

“I've been involved with it for about 30 years, and I've seen it grow and I've just seen how much it's needed. And the reputation that it has in the community.”

The one thing that unites the members of the management committee is their passion and dedication to maintaining a nation-leading palliative care service.

“These are professional, community-minded people who are dedicated to making sure that the Goulburn Valley retains a 24-hour, seven days a week hospice care service,” Mrs Powell said.

Their job is to ensure GV Hospice has good governance, is well managed with policies, plans and appropriate funding in place to enable the continuation of a free, 24/7 palliative care service to the community in a patient’s place of choice, which is usually the home.

“We're very committed to making sure that hospice remains free, doesn't have a waiting list, and is also available to the community when they need it. That's our commitment,” Mrs Powell said.

“We're always looking at ways that we can make our service better, such as what we're doing now with the new building, making sure that we're able to provide that extra service well into the future.

“Because the need for the service is growing.”

Mrs Powell said palliative care wasn’t just about dying well, it was about living well too.

“Some people don’t know about hospice. If you ask, ‘what do you know about hospice?’, their thoughts are always about dying,” she said.

“But we're trying to change that stigma, to say ‘I get it's not just about dying’.

“It's about living your best life. It's not just about sitting in a bed, having pain, we try to make it as pain-free as possible.

“If somebody wanted to go fishing for a final time, we find a way of making that happen. So, it's not just about dying, it's about living.”