Kurunpa: Keeping spirit on country

Abstract

The First Australians, the Aboriginal people, have lived on the Australian continent for about 60,000 years. Australian Aboriginal cultures are the oldest living cultures in the world. Their ability to adapt to change is one of the reasons they have survived for so long (Johnson, 1998). Colonisation, dispossession of land and trans-generational trauma have meant that today Aboriginal people of all ages are dying from non-cancer diseases which are terminal but are not necessarily recognised as such by health systems until the terminal phase of the illness. Many Aboriginal people express a desire to die in their own communities (Sullivan et al., 2003). Flexible models of palliative care which have a basic understanding of the diversity of the Aboriginal culture are crucial in providing accessible and relevant palliative care. This article describes our endeavour to date to culturally adapt the HOME Hospice model of care to the Kurunpa: Keeping Spirit on Country care model. Kurunpa is for Aboriginal people of all ages, and enables them to return to their country in remote areas or to stay in their own home in regional/urban areas of Australia, to ‘finish up’ (die) there. It empowers community members and family members to support the dying person’s carer/s in this important journey.