10/08/2026
This recognition reflects the extraordinary compassion, skill and dedication shown by every member of the team.
We are grateful for the care they provide to our community, and we acknowledge the emotional resilience and professionalism required in this deeply meaningful work.
Thank you for all you do.
🤩 CONGRATULATIONS to the Riverland Palliative Care Team – winners of the RMCLHN 2026 Person Centred Award!
Riverland Palliative Care is a multidisciplinary team comprising nurses, a nurse practitioner, social workers and medical officers. Their work exemplifies the principles of person-centred care by ensuring consumers and their families are supported to make informed decisions about their end-of-life journey, with dignity, comfort and choice at the forefront.
The team are truly unique in the way they operate with a highly effective service model, made possible through collaboration with the Riverland Academy of Clinical Excellence (RACE).
While the region has benefited from access to a nurse practitioner for the past three years, significantly improving timely access to end-of-life medications, the addition of Advanced Trainee doctors through RACE has transformed what is possible for consumers with complex medical needs.
In palliative care, the goal is to fulfill consumers’ (and their loved ones’) wishes around end-of-life care. For many, this includes dying at home, with well controlled symptoms. Under this expanded model, consumers who would previously have required hospital admission due to complex symptoms and complicated end-of-life conditions, can now remain in their home, enabling more people to die how they wish—at home, with their symptoms well-managed, surrounded by family, familiar surroundings and even beloved pets.
The team supported 23 consumers to die at home in 2025, and their home death rate far exceeds the national average. They were also able reduce the number of hospital bed days, demonstrating the broader system benefits of their work.
Working in palliative care requires emotional resilience, compassion and the ability to maintain professional boundaries in the face of profound human experiences. Every member of the team works with compassion, dignity, respect and high-level clinical expertise. At the heart of their approach is enabling consumers to lead their own care experience.
Their work has directly enhanced outcomes not only for consumers but also for carers and families, who consistently provide heartfelt feedback expressing their gratitude for the team’s support during one of life’s most difficult stages.
Through dedication, innovation and holistic, person-centred practice, the Riverland Palliative Care Team is delivering exceptional care and contributing meaningfully to the goals and values of RMCLHN.
Pictured: Wendy Jansen, Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner, Helen Stoeckel, Associate Nurse Unit Manager (ANUM) Palliative Care and Nyree Haynes, ANUM Palliative Care.
