The Victorian Aboriginal Palliative Care Program aims to provide a sustainable and culturally safe palliative care service system for Aboriginal people in settings of their choice.
It is managed by the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) in partnership with Palliative Care Victoria.
Community Information brochures:
- Palliative care – It’s the beginning of your healthcare Dreaming;
- Understanding the palliative care journey A guide for individuals, carers, Communities and family;
- Taking Control of Your Health Journey – An introduction about advance care planning for Aboriginal people & Torres Strait Islanders produced by Respecting Patient Choices;
- Palliative Approach Learning Guide for Aboriginal Health Workers.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Discussion Starter – Working Out What’s Right For You 
This Discussion Starter and card pack has been developed for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples and their community, and those working with them. It was made in partnership by Palliative Care Australia and the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives, Australian Indigenous Doctor’s Association and Indigenous Allied Health Australia and others.
If you become so sick that you couldn’t talk, your family and health worker may need to make decisions for you. Talking about how this would make you feel and what you want in advance will make their decisions easier and less stressful. The workbook and card pack helps you think about what is right for you and what is not right for you, as your journey moves on. It includes items for thinking about you and your family and community; your health care; preparing for discussion; and reviewing your discussion. There is also information about identifying your decision makers, making a legal will, Advance Care Plan, funeral preparation and more.
Artwork in the banner: See the full artwork and story about Journey of Life by Marrawuy Journeys (Sarah Richards)
Lately: local end of
life services and advice
Find the support you and your loved ones need to plan the rest of your lives. For people approaching the end of life and those who care for them in the north, west and central Melbourne region.
Artist’s statement: “Supporting Our Journey” symbolises the strong support given by family & community, helping us through our journey that we are travelling. The lines symbolise our path as well as the journey of others. The dots represent the many people who help us or who are on the same path”. – Kahli Luttrell, Yorta Yorta descendant.
For more information:
End of life and palliative care information
www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/palliative
Victoria’s end of life and palliative care framework
www2.health.vic.gov.au/palliative-care
Information for the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community and Aboriginal Health Workers
www.vaccho.org.au/wd/vapcp
The beginning of our journey Artist: Kahli Luttrell, Yorta Yorta descendent
Artists’s statement: As you twirl a piece of ribbon you don’t know which way it will turn, and this also applies to the changing paths and journeys we take in our lives. A path travelled together is easier to walk than the path travelled alone. The people in my work symbolise the endless support of our family, friends, community and services ensuring Aboriginal people walk together. The circles speak of the many people who have travelled in and out of our lives, they too taking the same path into our journey of the Dreaming. All the while our ancestors and family (represented by the auras) guide us there.
Artwork from Understanding the palliative care journey A guide for individuals, carers, Communities and family