From council halls to kitchen tables: How local government amplifies Palliative Care Connect in South Australia
An article written by Dr. Angela Rong Yang Zhang, Research Fellow, Research Centre for Palliative Care, Death and Dying (RePaDD), Flinders University
A quiet but powerful beginning
It starts with a quiet moment.
A carer walks into her local library, hoping for a breather. She notices a small display: “Living well, dying well.” There’s a QR code. She scans it. It leads to Palliative Care Connect (PCC) – a statewide service directory and navigator phone line. Within minutes, she’s speaking to someone who listens, understands, and helps her line up support for her dad and herself.
What began at a library table becomes coordinated help at the kitchen table.
This is the growing potential of local councils partnering with statewide navigation – making the right help easy to find, close to home.
Why councils matter in palliative care
Councils are where everyday life unfolds – libraries, community centres, neighbourhood houses, men’s sheds. Through a public health palliative care lens, these are also ideal places to build death literacy, reduce isolation, and connect people with timely support.
Professor Samar Aoun’s recent blog highlights the need to connect palliative care from health services to community networks, civic organisations, and local leadership. Councils are uniquely positioned to host conversations, normalise planning ahead, and serve as trusted hubs that connect residents to navigation services and bereavement supports.
Connecting councils to Palliative Care Connect
In June 2025, PCC expanded its Directory of Services to include information on local council supports such as bereavement groups, Justice of the Peace services, senior centres, and carer programs. Councils offer vital, ongoing services that support those who are ageing, caring, dying and grieving in our community.
The update was based on a small project that the PCC website team undertook to identify services and supports offered by local councils that are relevant to palliative care and bereavement. Councils completed a survey that detailed any useful offerings, and we categorised them and added them to the service directory. Activities from 28 local councils are now available. By facilitating access to this information to South Australians through Palliative Care Connect website, those seeking information online can find more community supports in their local area. This complements the existing resources including
- Plain-language pathways for patients, carers, clinicians, and communities
- A searchable directory by postcode, region, category, and fee type
- A navigator phone line (1800 PALLI8) for information, linkage, and support
- Dedicated streams for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, regional residents, and bereavement navigation
- Palliative Care Perspectives, to support proactive, person-centred end-of-life planning (CareSearch,2023)
Closing thought: Making compassion ordinary
Rachael Wass, CEO Meaningful Ageing Australia wrote that “journeying with a dying person is a privilege”.
When we place credible information and human connection in familiar places – libraries, council foyers, community halls – we make compassion ordinary and support easier to ask for.
Palliative Care Connect offers statewide navigation. Councils will not only contribute to the directory so their services can be more easily accessed, they can help make the website and navigation service more visible.
Just imagine if during South Australia’s Week of Ageing Well, a regional library hosts a memoir-writing workshop. A 74-year-old widower shares his grief. The facilitator, trained via a short council in-service, gently points him to PCC’s bereavement page. On a library tablet, he requests a callback.
A navigator phones back, connects him with a local grief group, a telehealth counsellor, and practical resources. A week later, he is doing better. The library follows up with a “grief and reading” display and a handout on how to help a grieving friend.
Think about what you could do today:
Together, councils, services and every neighbour and friend can make every community a compassionate community.
Author
Dr Angela Rong Yang Zhang
Research Fellow - Research Centre for Palliative Care, Death and Dying (RePaDD)
Flinders University