Warren Oxford-Huggets, Provincial Chair at the Hospice Palliative Care Association of South Africa (HPCA), calls on all South Africans to join them on 8 October 2022 in showing solidarity for those experiencing grief from the loss of loved ones and to support the Palliative Care Centre in providing essential care to those nearing the end of their lives' journey.

“You can do this by wearing a ribbon on your right wrist to indicate that you are experiencing grief yourself, or in solidarity with others who have experienced grief,” he said.

“The last few years have been grief-filled. For everyone. Globally, there are billions of ‘the walking wounded’," says Dr Ewa Skowronska, CEO of the HPCA. “But there is hope. We can help each other to heal hearts and communities.”

Oxford-Huggets added that billions of people are walking around wounded, either facing life-threatening diagnoses or grieving either literal or emotional deaths.

Furthermore, says Dr Aslam Dasoo, newly appointed Chairman of the board of the HCPA, that palliative care is frequently understood as only the management of a person’s living journey in the face of terminal disease until their death, by bringing them a measure of comfort and dignity in the process.

”Bereavement encompasses grief, the evolutionary mechanism that helps all sentient beings to not only process the pain of the loss of loved ones but also enfold memory into their consciousness in order to allow them to continue with the life journey we all have to complete,” said Dr Dasoo.

“This essential instinct does not always manifest, especially in times of mass deaths, as we witnessed during the pandemic. This often leaves survivors without the necessary closure and burdened by persistent and often debilitating sorrow.”

“The theme for this year’s World Hospice Palliative Care Day is healing hearts and community and the aim is to spread hope by demonstrating that we are not alone in our grief and that we can help each other to heal,” said Oxford-Huggets.  

The HPCA calls on all South Africans to join us on the 8th of October in showing solidarity with those experiencing grief from the loss of loved ones and to support the palliative care centres in providing essential care to those nearing the end of their life’s journey.

Oxford-Huggets said the ribbons can be any colour or size demonstrating the very individual nature of grief.

Ribbons are available via participating hospices for purchase, and all funds go to the hospices that the ribbons are purchased from. For a list of where to buy them, visit: https://hpca.co.za/world-hospice-and-palliative-care-day/ 

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