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What if the future of end-of-life care doesn't lie in hospitals, but within our communities?

In this episode, I sit down with Professor Samar Aoun AM, internationally recognised palliative care researcher, Founder and Chair of Compassionate Communities Australia, and one of Australia's leading voices in grief, bereavement and public health approaches to end-of-life care.

Samar shares how the death of her father and the contrast between community support in Lebanon and Australia inspired her groundbreaking research into grief and bereavement. Her work challenged traditional thinking and demonstrated that 90% of people cope with grief through the support of family, friends and community, while only 10% require professional intervention.

Together, we explore why Australia is facing a demographic "tsunami of death" as the population ages, why our health and aged care systems are struggling to keep up, and how compassionate communities can help people live, die and grieve well.

We discuss the importance of rebuilding death literacy and grief literacy, why caring networks matter, and how simple acts of kindness can transform the experience of caring, dying and grieving.

What you'll hear in this episode:

How Samar's personal experience following her father's death shaped her life's work
The groundbreaking grief research that found 90% of people rely on community support
Why grief has become overly medicalised and what this means for society
What compassionate communities are and why they matter
Why Australia is unprepared for the coming "tsunami of death"
The gap between where Australians want to die and where they actually die
How the Compassionate Connector program reduced hospital admissions and improved social connectedness
Why building your caring network before you need it is essential
The difference between transactional care and relational care in aged care settings
Practical ways every person can become part of a compassionate community

You may not be ready to die, but at least you can be prepared.

Take care,

Catherine

Connect with Professor Samar Aoun AM

Learn more about Compassionate Communities Australia: https://compassionatecommunitiesaus.org.au/

Learn more about Professor Samar Aoun's work at the Perron Institute https://www.perroninstitute.org/research/research-groups/samar-aoun/

& the University of Western Australia: https://www.uwa.edu.au/

Resources Mentioned in This Episode

Professor Allan Kellehear – internationally recognised pioneer of the Compassionate Communities movement and public health approaches to palliative care. His work inspired much of the global compassionate communities movement and Professor Aoun's own research.

Learn more: https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/our-staff/k/allan-kellehear/

Professor Bruce Rumbold OAM – Australian researcher, educator and leading advocate for public health approaches to palliative care, bereavement and death literacy.

Learn more: https://scholars.latrobe.edu.au/bdrumbold

Compassionate Cities: Public Health and End-of-Life Care by Professor Allan Kellehear

Book information: https://books.google.com/books/about/Compassionate_Cities.html?id=wvNOP8hpEk4C

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