We have had an overwhelming response to the Inaugural Jennifer Cashmore Oration.
For those who cannot attend we will live stream the Oration on the History Trust of South Australia’s Facebook and YouTube pages on Wednesday 24 November 2021 at 6pm.
Caring for the dying: from past to future in South Australia
Speaker: Professor Gregory Crawford MBBS, MPHC, MD, FRACGP, FAChPM
Overview
The inaugural address, delivered by Professor Gregory Crawford, in the presence of Her Excellency the Honourable Frances Adamson AC, Governor of South Australia, will explore palliative care from past to future in South Australia.
Mahatma Gandhi said, “The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members”.
Palliative care will eventually be needed for most of us. How a society cares for, funds programs and services, and enacts legislation for those facing the end of their lives remains vitally important today but is not always visible, spoken about or well understood.
The past informs the future, and this is certainly the case for palliative care in South Australia.
Dame Cicely Saunders, the proclaimed founder of the modern hospice movement said, “You matter because you are you, and you matter to the end of your life. We will do all we can not only to help you die peacefully, but also to live until you die”.
This premise has been at the heart of South Australian practice from its very beginnings.
How have the values and practices of this history influenced our current directions, and what does the future hold for palliative care in our society?
This address will aim to answer this question.
The inaugural Jennifer Cashmore Oration is presented by The History Trust of South Australia and supported Seniors Card, Office for Ageing Well and SA Health.
About Professor Crawford
Greg Crawford is a respected palliative physician and contributor to international research in his field. He is the current Chair of Palliative Care SA, advocating for quality care for our community, and has also served on national advisory committees for Palliative Care Australia.
His professional roles encompass being a palliative medicine physician with Northern Adelaide Local Health Network, a Professor at the University of Adelaide, immediate past-President of the Australasian Chapter of Palliative Medicine – Royal Australasian College of Physicians, and Chairman of the Palliative Care Study Group of the Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer.
His research interests include psychological issues for patients, families and staff, financial implications of early introduction to palliative care, end-stage non-malignant disease, cannabis use in palliative and cancer care, and means to develop complex public policy for vulnerable populations.
He is the 2021 recipient of the prestigious John Sands Medal, awarded by the Royal Australian College of Physicians for outstanding service.
About The Jennifer Cashmore Oration
This oration has been named in honour of Jennifer Cashmore AM, a former member of the South Australian House of Assembly and Minister of Health and Minister of Tourism.
Each day individuals and families face hard decisions about end of life. The dedication of Ms Cashmore to ensuring the right of each of us to specify our wishes is worth recalling.
As a parliamentarian, Ms Cashmore was the critical figure of her times in cementing the transformative principle of patient consent to medical treatment that has shaped our modern societal responses. Her work from the opposition benches brought together all sides of politics to support major changes that culminated in the Consent to Medical Treatment and Palliative Care Act 1995. This became the foundation of our contemporary law on informed consent, advance care directives, medical powers of attorney, and palliative care.
The History Trust of South Australia’s Jennifer Cashmore Oration will be presented on an occasional basis. The relationship between the medical and the societal, with a strong historical perspective, will be the theme of future Orations.
Read more about the work of Jennifer Cashmore
Further details and enquiries
The History Trust of South Australia
Telephone: 08 8203 9888
Email: events@www.history.sa.gov.au