The Otago Community Hospice nurse felt she and her colleagues could, and should, make a better one.
Nearly a year since the the "Ending Life Well" podcast launched, she was pleased with how the series — so far, consisting of 17 episodes — had been received.
This included the Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand Southern Nursing Excellence Award for innovative practice that she was thrilled to receive last week for her work on the podcast.
"I’m really proud of what we’ve achieved, knowing absolutely nothing about podcasts when we got started — but we’ve had an amazing editor.
"We’ve tried to make it easy to listen to. These aren’t lectures or presentations; it’s a conversation on a topic."
Her message for Hospice Awareness Week this week was that those who wanted to know more should reach out.
"We’re always willing to talk to people ... people are often nervous about hospice, but we’ve got a lot of information available and if we can support people in any way, that’s what we’re happy to do."
Feedback about the podcast was positive and people had got in touch to say they really enjoyed it.
The episode on self-care for carers was especially popular among the roughly 3600 downloads.
Downloads were mostly from New Zealand users, but also included people in Australia, Asia and the Pacific.
"We’re talking about caring for somebody at the end of life, and what dying looks like and what grief is like. That doesn’t really change, no matter where you are."
Each episode could also be listened to on the Otago Community Hospice website.
It was a way to make the Kōwhai Programme, through which the hospice provided information and support to family and carers, available to anybody, anywhere.
It was a valuable programme, but many people did not have access to it because of time constraints, location, or other reasons, whereas they could access the podcast.
Ideas for upcoming topics included grieving for children and teenagers, transitioning to aged residential care and the practical tips on touch and manoeuvring.
