Decades of volunteering honoured

June Bremner was awarded ACSA’s Volunteer Award in recognition of her 30 years of volunteering with Silver Chain in Western Australia. She tells AAA that, at age 81, she has no intention of stopping.

Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA) awarded June Bremner its Volunteer Award on Sunday night in recognition of her 30 years of volunteering with Silver Chain in Western Australia.  In the September/October edition, AAA carried an article on Ms Bremner, which we re-publish here. 

June Bremner has been recognised for her 30 years of volunteering.
June Bremner has been recognised for her 30 years of volunteering.
Image courtesy of the Community Newspaper Group.

June Bremner’s 30 years of volunteering in community palliative care can be traced back to the origins of the modern palliative care movement in Western Australia in the 1970s.

An early encounter with Swiss-American psychiatrist Dr Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a pioneer in the study of death and dying and the author of the five psychological stages of death and grief, sparked an enduring interest in caring for those at the end stages of life.

It was 1978 and Dr Kübler-Ross was on tour in Australia for the first time, having recently penned her groundbreaking book, ‘On Death and Dying’.

Soon after Kübler-Ross’ visit, Bremner joined one of the state’s first palliative care groups called ‘support for the dying and their families’, started by another palliative care leader, Dr Joy Brann, among others. The group later amalgamated with Silver Chain and Bremner began her decades of volunteer work as part of the community Hospice Care Service.

Now at 81, Bremner says she has no intention of stopping. “You’ll never know when you will need help yourself. Now that I can give back, I will,” she says.

Bremner, a former school secretary, draws much satisfaction from supporting people to make those final days, weeks or months more meaningful. “People who are in palliative care, they are all making the most of the time they have left, and this appealed to me,” she says.

“We walk alongside people. We can’t ever say that we can walk in their shoes, although in some instances, particularly the younger clients, you wish you could be in their shoes – but you walk alongside them and perhaps help lighten the load for a little bit of time.

“That’s what volunteering is all about. Giving of yourself to help other people and you get so much back from it,” she says.

Proud moment

In recognition of her decades of community service, Bremner was recently honoured with an award at the WA Aged and Community Services excellence in care awards, an acknowledgement she describes as one of her proudest moments.

Bremner, who often sees up to four clients a week and has taken on many overnight stays, says palliative care can also be a time of healing. “People say ‘wasn’t he lucky he had a quick death’, but with palliative care you have a chance to mend bridges. It’s part of why I do it.”

During her visits to clients, Bremner says she spends most of her time listening and sharing stories, reminiscing and providing comfort and companionship.

She’ll often take clients to the beach or for coffee, and she’ll always make an effort to tailor the activities or outings to their personal interests. A recent client had only been living in Perth for a short time, so Bremner introduced him to a new part of the city on every visit. “On one occasion we were down at Koolie by the river and we saw a pod of dolphins. He was just so excited. It was a part of life that was new to him.”

Bremner says it is inevitable that strong relationships will form with some clients and their families, some enduring for many years.  Although the time spent with clients has shortened significantly over the years as service criteria has changed in relation to growing demand.

A good death

When asked to reflect on the meaning of a good death, she says everybody wishes a different death for themselves, some would like to be surrounded by close family and friends, and others would prefer be on their own.

“I’ve known people who like to be out amongst the bush when they die and they will just walk off quietly and not come back. That can be hard on the family. They’ll say ‘he didn’t want us around’ and I’m sure the person who died wouldn’t have been feeling that way. His attitude would have been, ‘I don’t want to be a burden to my family. I don’t want them to have to see me slip away’.”

Gale Cargill, Support Officer of the Volunteer Service at Silver Chain, says June’s compassion, years of experience and dedication has earned her the respect and high esteem of her peers, clients and their families.

Tags: acsa, aged-care, june bremner, silver-chain, volunteering,

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