Helping care strike the right chord
Palliative care can be a confronting and emotion-charged time, but there can also be moments of pure joy, love and dreams fulfilled.
Elton John once said: “Music has healing power. It has the ability to take people out of themselves for a few hours”.
And for one Bupa member in palliative care, a trio of flutes did just that and fulfilled her dream to play again.
Dorothy has a love for music and learnt to play the flute in the 1980s when she was teaching at a local, country school.
Dorothy was talking with her palliative care nurse, Claire, and said how she longed to play the flute again. It had been too long between blowing magical notes through the flute, and she was keen to start playing again.
Claire started doing some asking around and then discovered that pastoral care co-ordinator, Susan, played the flute and was happy to join Dorothy. Claire couldn’t resist the temptation and also joined in.
Claire said it was a beautiful afternoon.
“We mostly played old band songs that she used to play. She could not stop smiling the whole time we were there. She was nervous to begin with, but it was very sweet,” Claire said.
We mostly played old band songs that she used to play. She could not stop smiling the whole time we were there. She was nervous to begin with, but it was very sweet.
Daughter, Charmaine, said that it was lovely for her and her dad to hear music playing in their home again.
“It was awesome, it brought tears to mine and dad’s eyes just to be seeing her play again and to be happy. It was beautiful,” Charmaine said.
This Palliative Care week, Bupa pays tribute to those supporting loved ones and the palliative care teams who are there for their patients and their relatives during some of life’s toughest days and moments.
For people and families living with a life limiting illness there are choices around their care, with research showing 70% would prefer to see out life’s journey at home. Access to home-based palliative care services has been found to double that chance, if that was preferred, and helped support family or caregivers.
Bupa’s Palliative Care Choices program manager Melanie Jones said the program supported people to choose where they wanted to be cared for.
“Depending on their needs and wishes, they can receive personalised, specialist palliative care at home or in hospital,” she said.
Melanie said Dorothy’s story warmed all of their hearts.
Dorothy’s story is a perfect example of how our people can help make a difference to our customers and their loved ones’ lives.
And for those few hours, Dorothy, this was Your Song.
Learn more about Bupa’s Palliative Care Choices program Palliative Care Choices Program | Bupa.
