S’pore Hospice Council Successfully Raises Awareness About Palliative Care Through Social Media

Singapore’s population is greying.

With that, terms like elderly care, silver population, hospices and palliative care have entered the public consciousness.

Palliative care is defined by Tan Tock Seng Hospital (TTSH) as “an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problem associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual.”

It is an effort, method or simply a way of living out one’s remainder of a cherished life in its possible end-stage with dignity and comfort. In other words, trying to remove the physical pain and live the rest of the days happily.

This usually takes place in a hospice which provides specialised services to both patient and family members.

Singapore Hospice Council (SHC)

On Tuesday (7 May 2019), a video uploaded on SHC’s Instagram page made its round on the internet for a good cause.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

#LendYourInstagram ⁣ Visit our page, share our posts to your story. ⁣ Help someone else #LiveWellLeaveWell.⁣ ⁣ #lend #love #care #hope #comfort #friends #family #lastdays #oldage #elderly #palliativecare #therapy #endoflife #lessons #life #questions #answers #hospicecare #talkplanact

A post shared by Singapore Hospice Council (@singaporehospice) on May 6, 2019 at 9:15pm PDT

The short video features an elderly man holding up and showing various cue cards as the video progresses.

The tiles are shown below:

My Days May Be Numbered

But My Blessings Are Plenty

I Want To Live Before I Leave

Which Is Why I’m Among Friends, Family

And Knowledgeable Caregivers

In Surroundings That Give Me Comfort & Hope

Not Everyone Knows About

Hospice Care

You Can Help Someone Else

Simply Lend Us Your Instagram

And Help Share Our Message Of

Care, Love & Hope

It’s A Small Gesture For You

But To Someone Who Needs Hospice Care

It Could Mean Everything

#Lend Your Instagram

The #LiveWellLeaveWell campaign, championed by SHC, seeks Instagram users’ help under  #LendYourInstagram to share the video in an effort to raise awareness on palliative care.

It has since garnered more than 450,000 views and more than 700 comments.

Comments

The video was naturally met with an outpouring of positive sentiments.

Some were reminded of their own kin and kind.

And some questioned the intent of the video and purpose of sharing it.

To which SHC gamely shared that it is in hope for “more people [to be] aware that hospice care is a holistic approach that focuses on quality end-of-life” and for a removal of “stigma that hospice care is for people who’ve given up on living” which is “far from the truth.”

Let awareness be a start to opening up a conversation on palliative care.

For more information on palliative care, do visit the Singapore Hospice Council’s website.

#LiveWellLeaveWell  #LendYourInstagram