With the grace of Waheguru, I am proud to receive Certificate of Attendance with 12 CPD points awarded by the Dubai Health Authority.

Yesterday’s World Peace Day webinar, hosted by the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care and PallChase, titled “Palliative Care and a Culture of Peace,” aligned with the UN selected theme for the 20th anniversary of the resolution announcing World Peace Day. The webinar, which resembled an inter-faith, international death café with panelists and limited audience participation, exemplified how the palliative care ethos of skilled improvisation confronts technical issues typical of today’s globalized world. Even though the Christian speaker, Dr Mhoira Leng, had to board a plane just  as the webinar was starting, and the acoustics on her pre-recorded video failed, meaning it couldn’t be shown, she managed to join us live from her seat to give her talk. She emphasized the Christian principles of love and reconciliation that are lived through the provision of palliative care, particularly in spiritual accompaniment and prayer. 

Indian panelists, Mr Avtar Singh Cheema, and Dr Abhiijit Dam described Sikh and Hindu perspectives on the relationship between palliative care and peace. Mr Avtar Singh Cheema palliative care social worker, founder of Palliative Peace, emphasized the Sikh faith tradition that sees everyone as God. Dr Mhoira Leng spoke from a Christian position, which sees all people as made in the image of God, and Dr Dam, and the International Death Doula Foundation, emphasized the Vedanta perspective, which concentrates all divinity in the present moment. 

Palliative care teams construct a culture of peace by putting those principles into practice. Treating all as an incarnation, or image of God, being absolutely present to people, listening to what they want and need. Hearing their frustrations and fears as they exit this life, surrounding the lonely with family, are all activities that construct a culture of people. The webinar turned into a sort of international, inter-religious death café, as the technical issues forced us to improvise and let our hair down a bit, bringing us closer across the global divide to discuss physics, fractals, silence, and tonglen. 

All speakers were asked to reflect on two questions, the first of which double-barrele: 1) How do you, as a palliative care practitioner, understand peace, and how does your work contribute to a culture of peace, in a family, community, hospice, or health system? Please describe how is this tied to your faith or spiritual practice? 2) They were then asked to share one example of a patient and/or family story that brought peace in the way they describe it. Dr Dingle Spence was an expert moderator of the six (total) interventions, skillfully maneuvering her way around the technical difficulties and challenging issues raised by the speakers. She also took several interesting questions from the audience that panelists answered live on screen. 

Peace is structurally related to justice, an in the case of palliative care development in what the World Bank calls “lower-middle income countries,” can benefit from principles of restorative, or reparative justice. Palliative care and essential medicines are extremely limited in those countries that were subject to the extractive colonial empires of the global north. This assertion requires governments that benefited materially at the expense of others to take history and place seriously, sharing resources, including in the form of debt cancellation, as a matter of justice rather than charity or development aid. Such resource sharing that allows palliative care to grow and flourish in places that are now palliative care deserts would go a long way to seeding peace. 

We have already received several emails from people who enjoyed the webinar and are looking for more spiritual talk. There is clearly a hunger to integrate spiritual material into both the regular health sciences curriculum and in continuing education. 

Stephen Wertheim, a wellness therapist from South Africa wrote enthusiastically,  “So much of the training in palliative care focuses on knowledge and not so much on the micromovements of the heart/spirit which manifests in a heartful kind of attention, consideration, love, compassionate action, and so on. Perhaps one can assume that it is always there, but it was so wonderful that the webinar specifically focused on the subject. Thank you so much!”

You can watch the recorded webinar by clicking the link below and entering the highlighted passcode. 

Link to Recording https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/WBk4GkCUJL1HSkejNHHxoc70dVtOGpPjKckuCcQeDSVEq-4NCdPoqNJ-bBQORbJf.SHA1srj21xpN5WJa

Passcode: aY^VaG1v

 I am deeply honored and humbled to have been granted an honorary membership in the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care. Your recognition strengthens my resolve to continue advocating for compassionate care for the most vulnerable, ensuring dignity in life and in death.
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