The City of Bunbury has partnered up with South West Compassionate Communities Network to help create a compassionate charter.
A charter would guide and encourage the entire community to create a more compassionate city through open discussion about end-of-life and palliative care.
The Charter follows the success of a research pilot project with South West Compassionate Communities Network (SWCCN) around the model of care delivered by volunteers to support people living with advanced life limiting illness or palliative care needs.
The pilot project was aimed at developing, implementing and evaluating that model of care, and was a collaboration between SWCCN, Perron Institute, La Trobe University, WA Country Health Services, GP down south and the WA Primary Health Alliance.
Locally, the Charter aims to open discussion and raise awareness around compassion, help understand what is already happening in Bunbury and provide a roadmap to support further discussion and implementation measures.
City of Bunbury Mayor Jaysen Miguel said it was proud to support the network in creating the charter which would provide an opportunity to understand the community better in relation to compassion.
"The Charter will help identify who is already working in this space, what is unique about our City and provide opportunities to advocate and inspire others to take action," he said
The project will take place over the next 12 months and will involve a range of workshops to be delivered towards the end of 2022 and early next year.
The network will also host its Dying to Know Day program across three days, starting on August 6 with tours of the Crematorium and Memorial Gardens at Bunbury Cemetery and William Barrett and Sons Care Centre followed by Death Café on August 7.
The network is a diverse group of passionate community members committed to progressing the concept of compassionate communities, developing and delivering a range of programs, events and tools.
South West Compassionate Communities Network chairwoman Samar Aoun said the charter would encourage people, service providers, businesses and community groups to work together to create a more compassionate, resilient and responsive Bunbury.
"We invite passionate people to reach out to us with ideas on how to make our city more compassionate and work with us on the Charter initiative via our website - www.comcomnetworksw.com," she said.
"The process of developing a Charter will engage the wider community and allow for expansion of the compassionate communities concept across the region and WA."
Its vision is to ensure local communities are death literate, socially connected and able to take practical actions to care during illness, death and grief.
