ABSTRACT
HOME Hospice was founded in Australia in 1980 by Dr Helen-Anne Manion, a GP and subsequently palliative care specialist, and Gerard Manion, a cancer counsellor, and now functions as a charitable organisation operating in several parts of that country. It originated from a request by a patient attending Gerard Manion’s Cancer Care programme. Knowing his death was imminent, the patient asked for help to remain at home, to be able to die supported by the love of family in the comfort of familiar surroundings. This request was the first of many. Dr Manion had observed no lack of friends visiting the homes of the dying but noticed that the principal carers often had such friends added to their already stressful workload (‘you’ll have a cuppa with us? No, no, no problem at all! Just sit there and I’ll make it – tea or coffee for you?’). Loving friends and caring neighbours wished to demonstrate their concern; how could this be used to assist principal carers in their work of looking after the dying, where they belonged, in their own homes?
