Kelly Vincent – 5RPH Interview on Palliative Care Services and Mental Health Week
07/10/2015
On 7th October, 2015 Dignity for Disability MLC Kelly Vincent was interviewed on radio station 5RPH to discuss the Government’s decision to reinstate palliative care services in the South-East. Kelly Vincent also discusses the National Borderline Personality Disorder Conference she attended and the need for both the public and the Government to better understand the disorder. Here is the audio and transcript from the interview.
Pam Green: And it’s time now to welcome to 5RPH Dignity for Disability MLC, Kelly Vincent. Hi Kelly.
Kelly Vincent: Hi Pam.
Pam Green: So I hear you’ve had a win in regards to the reinstating of palliative care services in the South-East. What’s happened there and why are palliative care services so important?
Kelly Vincent: Well Pam you probably remember that we’ve talked about this issue before on this station where the Government saw fit to cut in-home palliative care services in the South-East mostly in Mount Gambier. And this is having, I believe quite a detrimental effect on the community because as I’m sure we all know it’s hard enough to access many services in regional areas like Mount Gambier and the rest of the South-East, let alone at a time when either you or a loved one is facing the end of life and you’re feeling potentially very isolated and vulnerable. So the reason that these in-home palliative care services are so important is that they give people the opportunity to end their life peacefully at home, surrounded by the people and the things that they’re familiar with and they love. And of course this is not only important for their emotional wellbeing, it could potentially make a very scary time that is the end of life a little more comfortable, it’s also important because it reduces the strain on an already over-stretched hospital system. So we’re very pleased that the Minister for Health, Jack Snelling has seen common sense and reversed the decision to defund these services.
Pam Green: So why do you think Minister Snelling did change his mind?
Kelly Vincent: Well, I think as I say it’s really a case of common sense of this being about the need to provide supports around people facing the end of life or for loved ones facing the end of life. Supports around them make this very difficult time a little more comfortable and easier. But as I said this is not only about the emotional support around these people. If these people don’t have the option to face the end of life at home, it’s only going to increase our reliance on hospital beds which are already very much overstretched and over relied upon. And so we need as much as possible to keep people out of hospital, to make sure that people can only go in there when that is only the last option, and having in-home palliative care services available is one way of doing that.
Pam Green: And I understand ahead of attending the Mental Health Week Launch last Friday you attended the National Borderline Personality Disorder Conference at Flinders Uni. What did you learn there?
Kelly Vincent: I did, I learned a lot of things. As you’re probably aware Dignity for Disability has been working alongside people with Borderline Personality Disorder for a long time now. And this was still a very eye opening conference where we heard from consumers, so that’s people with Borderline Personality Disorder. One of the speakers I have to say was completely amazing. This is a woman who has survived, I think from memory 14 suicide attempts in the course of her lifetime. So she had lived her life really going in and out of emergency departments and living her life in a state of distress and crisis, and she’s now in a position where she’s able to hold down study, and a job, and can contribute to society as well as living a very healthy life. So certainly the overarching theme was the need for all of us to be mindful that this population of people with Borderline Personality Disorder does exist and it is a genuine health disorder. Often it is dismissed as attention seeking because a lot of the symptoms of Borderline Personality Disorder are things like confusion over identity, self-harm, and so on. But it is a genuine mental health condition that effects between 1 and 4 percent of the population and of that number 10 percent will end their lives by suicide. So this is something to take very seriously.
Pam Green: And just finally, on the topic of Mental Health Week, what messages do you think are important for all of us to remember?
Kelly Vincent: Well the need for all of us I think to be mindful and conscious of these issues in our community and also to check in with ourselves and each other about our mental health. One of my great frustrations is that we still don’t talk about mental health in the same way that we talk about physical health that is that it’s something constant that we all have – sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s poor. For some reason as a society generally we’re still only talking about mental health when it becomes poor, so I think we need to move towards talking about this a constant spectrum.
But of course there is also a need for the Government and for the Minister for Mental Health, Jack Snelling to take mental health more seriously by providing the resources such as the palliative care supports that we talked about. But also offer bereavement counselling for those who have lost loved ones recently and also things like providing supports for people with mental health conditions, particularly very maligned and misunderstood conditions like Borderline Personality Disorder. Now we know the Government hasn’t supported the establishment of a specialist service for Borderline Personality Disorder, which Dignity for Disability has called on for a long time. So we’re now looking to work collaboratively to find another way that we can get general understanding about Borderline Personality Disorder and the way to support recovery from it in the Medical fraternity and in the general population. Because I think if we can’t cater to these misunderstood and maligned disorders then perhaps even the more misunderstood ones are missing out as well. Because the more that we understand about how to cater to some of the most misunderstood people in our society, I think that understanding will trickle down and that respect in response will trickle down to all mental health conditions as well until we get a very healthy and happy community.
Pam Green: Thanks for your time today Kelly.
Kelly Vincent: Thanks Pam, that’s a pleasure.
Pam Green: Dignity for Disability MLC, Kelly Vincent.
