MOREE palliative care clinical nurse consultant Fiona Lysaught will be opening speaker at the NSW Palliative Care State conference at Tamworth in November.

The conference, at West Tamworth Leagues Club from October 31 to November 2, will showcase how the palliative care sector delivers services, tackles challenges and embraces opportunities.

Mrs Lysaught will speak about a program she helped create in Moree.

Finding Your People was a collaboration with Jobs Australia initiative Flat Track, an organisation designed to provide youths with life and education skills, and opportunities to return to school or work – or both.

Then-Flat Track supervisor, Krist Grasnick, recruited young people to deliver, install, and collect equipment required by palliative care patients for use at home.

“It was the best of projects, the most heart-warming of projects,” Mrs Lysaught says fondly.

“When I rang Krist, I asked if the boys could help us deliver and install equipment.

“Krist loved the idea. However, finding a payment method Krist would agree to was difficult – he thought they should do it for free,” she smiled.

Moree palliative care clinical nurse consultant Fiona Lysaught will be a keynote speaker at the NSW Palliative Care State conference at Tamworth in November (Image Copyright).

“I then began a small, quality project that morphed into the biggest feel-good service I have ever been involved with.

“I was going to teach these boys so much. However, as so often happens when you work with younger people, ‘my boys’ taught me so much.

“What I learned was respect. I saw the boys treat the equipment with such care; I watched these young men store blankets and ropes away after a delivery, like they had done it all their lives.

“Most importantly, I saw the boys engage with the people we visited. It was like they were reminding the clients about all the good in the world.”

Mrs Lysaught’s career as an enrolled nurse found its roots in the mid-1970s at Walgett, where she completed Years 11 and 12. Soon afterwards, her family relocated to Wagga Wagga.

“I left my training hospital in Sydney as soon as I finished the exams and returned ‘home’ to Walgett in 1979, when I was 18,” she said.

“That’s where I met my husband, Martin, a handsome young policeman,” she smiled.

“We married and left with a new baby in 1982. Because of Martin’s job in the police force, we returned to Walgett twice after that, and both times I worked at the hospital.”

Mrs Lysaught said the western districts town helped make her the nurse she is today.

“When I was at Walgett, I learned about life, death and the value of belonging to a rural community,” she said.

Mrs Lysaught completed a nursing degree in 2003, and has since worked in several hospital departments, including oncology, emergency and management.

After leaving a position in aged-care management, Mrs Lysaught returned to nursing and a placement in palliative care.

“The very best part of rural nursing is knowing your patients. They are your friends, your neighbours and your family,” she said.

“However, sometimes the worst part of rural nursing is exactly that – knowing your patients. I believe this aspect of the profession made me study harder to be the best nurse, knowing someone I loved could be the next person through the emergency door.”

Mrs Lysaught said the role of nurses, medical staff and paramedics in rural hospitals was incredibly diverse.

“Unlike larger hospitals, where staff specialise in one area, in rural areas you train to have advanced skills to support the sparse acute services,” she said.

“I work with incredible people who have such advanced skills. When watching documentaries on emergency departments, it amazes me to think rural areas may see the same horrific injury and manage that person – who they may know – without a huge team.”

Mrs Lysaught’s story will be shared at the NSW Palliative Care State conference at Tamworth in November.

Also speaking will be Dr Kristin Bindley, who has 20 years’ experience in clinical practice, research and education, and Reakeeta Smallwood, who recently submitted her doctoral study, Historical Trauma and Resilience: Aboriginal Young Peoples’ Stories, to the University of Technology Sydney.

Palliative Care NSW CEO Kirsty Blades said there were heartwarming stories to tell about nursing staff going above and beyond to deliver quality palliative care.

“Every day we hear stories from across the sector. These stories, case studies and research need to be shared more widely, as they have the ability to connect the sector,” Ms Blades said.

“Importantly, they can inspire new perspectives and approaches, new models of care and innovation.

“That is the goal of this conference – to showcase through keynotes, presentations, case studies, panels and posters how the sector goes above and beyond, is tackling challenges and embracing opportunities.”

Words and Image: Bill Poulos