CareSearch updates

CareSearch has established a new National Advisory Group to lead it through the next three years of the project. This group comprises individuals with a wide range of knowledge and experience across palliative care, aged care, primary health, digital health, evidence and its translation, diversity, and consumer experience. The input and direction it will provide to the project will ensure that what we produce will have broad and national relevance while being current and inclusive of all population groups and regions. Joining Professor Jennifer Tieman (CareSearch Director/Chief Investigator and Chair) and Dr Raechel Damarell (Senior Research Fellow) on the group for 2023-2026 are:

• Mr Daniel Coase, Senior Policy Advisor, Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia
• Dr Annie Dullow, Consumers and carers representative
• Dr Elizabeth Hawkins, Director of Medical Services, Atherton Hospital  
• Professor Tammy Hoffmann, Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, Institute for Evidence-Based Healthcare, Bond University
• Dr Lisa Kruesi, Digital Health Research Fellow, Monash University and Deputy Chair, Therapeutic Guidelines
• Professor Virginia Lewis, Research Chair in Community Health, Australian Institute for Primary Care and Ageing, La Trobe University
• Ms Fiona Onslow-Agnew, Chief Executive, May Shaw Health and Aged Care for Living
• Professor Leeroy William, Clinical Director Supportive and Palliative Care, Eastern Health
• Professor Trish Williams, Cisco Chair and Professor of Digital Health Systems, Flinders University

We thank the outgoing Advisory Group for its invaluable contribution to the CareSearch project across 2020-2023.

Join CareSearch in marking World Hospice and Palliative Care Day on October 14. This year’s focus on compassionate communities reminds us that life-limiting illness, death, and bereavement are a natural part of life as well as a collective community responsibility. By championing compassionate communities, we deepen our communal understanding of one of life’s profound experiences.

CareSearch supports compassionate communities with its Community Centre. Here Dying2Learn encourages reflection on personal views of death while the Diversity Hub highlights challenges faced by people from diverse backgrounds in finding support. There is also a wealth of information on caring for older people and those approaching the end of life.

October is also an opportunity to show our appreciation to the 2.65 million Australians who provide unpaid care to a family members or friends. National Carers Week, which runs from 15-21 October, raises awareness about the challenges faced by caregivers while highlighting the essential role they play in our communities. The official event website is a hub for information, resources, and events happening throughout Carers Week.

The CareSearch Community Centre offers carers support in the form of information. Information can empower carers to make informed decisions or know where to find additional support when needed. It can also help carers better understand the carer role and how to provide care to someone else while safeguarding their own wellbeing.