Community
12 August, 2026
Having conversations that matter
AN UPCOMING event at Timboon and District Healthcare Service (TDHS) is inviting residents to come together and share in the difficult conversations surrounding death and end of life care.
Dying to Know Day occurs every year on August 8, and encourages people across Australia to engage in conversations about death and dying throughout the month of August.
With the assistance of a grant, TDHS community nurse unit manager Andrea Hughes said she decided to organise a day for the Timboon community to speak more openly about death and assist in Advanced Care Planning.
Held on August 27 from 1.30pm to 3.30pm in the TDHS Social Support Room, the event will include guest speaker Melissa Couch – an Advanced Care Planning consultant – and afternoon tea.
“The main focus is having discussions around dying and planning ahead for that,” Ms Hughes said.
“This ties in really well for us because we’ve got our new palliative care room that is opening soon.
“We’ll talk about what we have to offer locally, such as if they want care closer to home.
“It’s about having those tricky conversations.”
Attendees will learn more about the process of filling in their own Advanced Care Plan and how to express their wishes for their end of life care.
“It can be, for example, someone letting us know they would prefer not to go to Warrnambool and would prefer to die at Timboon Hospital,” Ms Hughes said.
“Or if they would not like to be intubated.
“If the outcome is going to be that they’re not going to be able to care for themselves independently then they don’t want interventions.
“Or if the outcome is going to be that they’re going to have to be fed by a tube, then they don’t want that.
“It’s your last wishes in the event something was to happen to you, and it was your last days – if you could choose, how would you like it to be and what you would prefer?”
While attendees won’t begin the process of writing their Advanced Care Plan at the event, they will receive information about how to begin and what to think about in preparation for end of life care.
“They’ll have a starter guide and some prompts to take home and discuss what their values are and have a think about it,” Ms Hughes said.
“Once you’ve had those conversations and you have a bit of an idea, you can book an appointment at the clinic to fill the Advanced Care Plan out with a nurse and doctor.
“You can do it on your own, but it’s probably better to be supported.
“You don’t need to know your answers before going into the appointment.”
Ms Hughes said she understood the paperwork could be complex and include unfamiliar health terms, which was why it was good to have a practice nurse assist in the process.
“If you don’t really know what you want to write, but you know you want certain things, the nurse can help you to write it,” she said.
“Not everyone has great health literacy, so they may say they just don’t want to be in a vegetative state.
“The nurse can help to write that in the right language.”
Even if people aren’t interested in completing their Advanced Care Plan yet, Ms Hughes said the event was more focused on how to have those difficult conversations about death.
“We often don’t have these conversations and think we don’t need to, or we just don’t think things will happen to us,” she said.
“It’s to make sure your family knows your wishes, because they’re often the ones left behind not knowing what decisions to make or what to do.
“I feel like the community here can miss out on things, because Warrnambool run all sorts of big wonderful things, but I think we have a beautiful big space here at TDHS with our Health Education Room and our Community Room.
“I thought this would be really great timing with the palliative care room coming out and giving people in Timboon access to information that some of the other towns have.
“Everyone is welcome and they don’t have to live in Timboon.”