A mother’s plan for her family

Pusi Urale is a Samoan artist and mother of six. She spent many years as a teacher and, in later life, started to paint. Pusi lives with her daughter, filmmaker Sima Urale.

Pusi and Sima are part of a national advance care planning campaign, Kia Kōrero | Let’s talk, which features Māori, Pacific, Asian and Pākehā stories and encourages all communities to engage in conversations about their future health and end of life care.

Pusi and Sima,together with their aiga/family, have discussed what might happen in the future.

The whole family looked after their dad when he was diagnosed with dementia, so they know the importance of making decisions together.

‘I think we’ve always been prepared and confident to deal with it because Mum’s always been open with us,’ says Sima. It helped their family cope with their father’s dementia over many years and the family shared his care both in Aotearoa and Samoa until it was too difficult to travel.

Advance care planning is a way to help you think about, talk about and share what  matters to you for your future health care. Having an advance care plan will help you and those around you understand what is important to you, what treatment and care you would like or would prefer not to have, and who can make decisions on your behalf if you’re not able to.

Pusi says, ‘We’ve always talked about what to expect – everybody dies.’ Now in her 80s, she says, ‘I wake up to paint.’

The advance care planning programme is led by the Health Quality & Safety Commission as part of a five-year strategy and is funded by district health boards.

This year the campaign will run in the lead up to Advance Care Planning Day on Friday 3 April 2020.

For more information visit: www.myacp.org.nz