Help manage symptoms at home — Yolngu Matha

Transcript

[Text on screen] caring@home acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

[Text on screen] WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are warned that the following video tells the story of a deceased person, as told by the family. The person’s family has given permission for caring@home to share this story.

[Text on screen] Video 2  Help manage symptoms at home caring@home logo

[Music plays]

>>Kat Hooper (female voice over):
Bulka babulka, wanya. Welcome welcome all you mob. My name is Kat Hooper and I am a really proud Worimi woman, a descendant. I currently live, learn, and I work and I play on the lands of the Turrabul, Jagera, and Gubbi Gubbi people.

[Text on screen] Kat Hooper, Worimi and Gubbi Gubbi descendant

>>Kat Hooper (female voice over):
In this video, I will teach you how you can help keep your loved one comfortable at home or on Country.

It is not uncommon for people on their end-of-life journey to experience symptoms like pain or feeling sick in the gut.

And there are many things that you can do to help your loved one. Your nurse will teach you what to do and give you a tip sheet with ideas.

Sometimes giving medicine under the skin will be the best way to make them feel better, if they are looking uncomfortable or worried or behaving differently.

[Text on screen] Identify the symptom

>>Kat Hooper (female voice over): The first step is to work out what is bothering them. Is it pain? Is it feeling sick in the gut?

The best way is to ask them. Sometimes though, they may be unable to tell you how they feel. You will need to work it out as you know the person well. The nurse will help you as they will talk about common symptoms and give you tip sheets to explain what to look for.

[Text on screen] Ask how worrying the symptom is

>>Kat Hooper (female voice over): The next step is to ask your loved one how worrying the symptom is.

You can use the rating scale to help. It has numbers and faces on it.

The numbers go from zero to ten. Zero means the symptom is not worrying at all and ten means it is really worrying.

You can ask your loved one to look at the scale and pick the number that matches how they feel.

The faces can be used to help them make the decision.

[Text on screen] Work out which medicine to give

>>Kat Hooper (female voice over): If your loved one needs medicine, the next step is to work out which medicine to give.

The nurse will teach you about each medicine and what symptom it is helpful for.

The wall chart and the medicine labels will also help you to remember and become more confident.

After you know which is the right medicine, you can give it to your loved one.

The nurse will teach you how to do this and the steps are shown in videos 3 and 4.

[Text on screen] Fill in the medicines book

>>Kat Hooper (female voice over): It is important that when you give medicine, that you fill in the medicines book.

Now, the medicines book allows you to keep track of the medicine you give to your loved one.

It also allows you and the clinic to yarn about the medicine used and how well it is working.

When you give medicine, fill in the medicines book by writing or using the stickers. Put in:

• the day
• whether it is night time or day time
• the medicine label – remember though, to write how much medicine you give
• and the number or face that matches how your loved one feels.

Then wait 20 minutes and fill in the medicines book again with the new number or face to see if the medicine has helped.

If your loved one does not seem to be more comfortable, please ring the clinic.

[Text on screen] caring@home logo www.caringathomeproject.com.au

[Music ends]

[Text on screen] Kat Hooper is a nurse practitioner working with the caring@home team and played the role of a family member in this video. caring@home logo

caring@home for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Families is funded by the Australian Government and led by Brisbane South Palliative Care Collaborative. caring@home logo

End of transcript