COTA 50+ report 2020
Dignity, Respect, Choice: Planning for the Final Chapter
COTA 50+ report 2020
Released: 13-Mar-2020
Event Date: to
“Our societal reluctance to discuss death and dying impacts us all. It inhibits future planning of care and medical intervention; it impacts the emotional and psychological response of both the dying person and those more broadly affected, and it prevents the dying person from expressing their final wishes.”
Read the report here
SPEAKERS AT THE LAUNCH
Welcome - The Hon Jo Haylen MP
Jo is the member for Summer Hill in the NSW Parliament. She is the Shadow Minister for Seniors and Volunteers and Co-Chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Older People. She has been a strong advocate for the welfare and rights of older people, particularly during the current pandemic.
Rita Martin
Rita has been a Registered Nurse for over 35 years. Her background is in intensive care, oncology, aged care and public hospital management. She now works for the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association as the Government and Community Relations organiser. She helped to establish the NSW Aged Care Roundtable, which includes clinical and advocacy organisations who work together to improve residential aged care. Last November Rita's father died after a few months in a nursing home and she has recent experience of end of life choices, and the challenges facing families at this difficult time.
Paul Falzon
Paul is a solicitor with degrees in commerce, law and urban planning.Having previously worked as a youth worker and in policy, he now works in a small family-based legal practice in Parramatta. He has been working in the area of wills, estates and family law since 2013 and enjoys helping older people plan for their future. He is a volunteer solicitor with COTA NSW's Legal Pathways program which provides low-cost estate-planning documents for older people on fixed incomes. He is also particularly interested in preventing elder abuse.