Report from the Fourth International Last Aid Conference Part 1
January 14, 2025
Georg Bollig [email protected], Raymond Voltz, and Erika Zelko View all authors and affiliations All Articles https://doi.org/10.1177/263235242412993
Abstract
The Fourth International Last Aid Conference was held from 4th to 6th September 2024 in Cologne, Germany. Seventy-three participants from 16 different countries and nationalities participated in the Fourth International Last Aid conference in the Mildred Scheel Academy and the Department of Palliative Medicine at the University Hospital of Cologne, Germany. The main topics of the conference were experiences with Last Aid Courses, research on public palliative care education (PPCE) and networks in community palliative care from different countries. The speakers from different countries around the world presented experiences with networking in community care, PPCE and lessons learned from the implementation of Last Aid Courses and different course formats in different countries. The contribution of research and the past and future work of the Last Aid International Research Group (LARGI) for the development of Last Aid was presented and discussed. This report provides an overview of the conference topics, the presentations by international experts from around the world and the most important results and implications.
Since the introduction of the first Last Aid Courses in Norway, Germany and Denmark in 2014/2015 many countries have joined the Last Aid Movement1,2 that now includes 23 participating countries from Europe, Canada, Brazil, Australia and Singapore. The Fourth International Last Aid Conference was held from the 4th to the 6th September 2024 in Cologne, Germany.
Preconference meeting of the International Last Aid working group and German Last Aid Symposium
On 4th September, a preconference meeting of the International Last Aid working group took place in the Department of Palliative Medicine, University Hospital of Cologne, Germany, to discuss the curriculum and slide set for the international Last Aid Course for the public. The group reached consensus on the new curriculum and slide presentation with some changes of the existing slide presentation. The subtitle of the Last Aid Course was expanded, and the full title is now ‘Last Aid – Empowering people to support each other during serious illness, dying, death and grief’. The group found it important to highlight empowering of people and the whole period from serious illness to grief as experiences by relatives, friends and others. In addition, the idea that end-of-life care is everyones responsibility and the 95% rule as described by Kellehear3 were included in the presentation as well as a new slide about possible positive experiences in connection to death and dying. The members of the international Last Aid working group wanted to make clear that the encounter of death and dying can have a positive impact on people and is not only negative.
In the evening of 4th September a German speaking Symposium4 with lectures on grief work in the United Kingdom (Bianca Neumann), the impact of Last Aid Courses in different international contexts from Switzerland (Eva Niedermann) and Brazil (Karin Schmid) and the importance of research for the development of Last Aid International and the Last Aid Courses (Erika Zelko) took place in Cologne in co-operation with the Department of Palliative Medicine, University Hospital of Cologne, the caring community Cologne and Letzte Hilfe Deutschland. A panel discussion with experts from Germany focused on the impact of Last Aid Courses on compassionate communities in general and the caring community in Cologne.
For more information about Last Aid in Canada, visit https://www.chpca.ca/education/last-aid/
Author contributions
Consent for publication All authors agree on publishing this manuscript.
Georg Bollig: Conceptualization; Writing – original draft.
Raymond Voltz: Conceptualization; Reviewed the last version.
Erika Zelko: Conceptualization; Reviewed the last version.
Funding: The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Competing interests: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
Availability of data and materials: Not applicable.
References
- Bollig G, Kuklau N. Der Letzte HilfeKurs – ein Angebot zur Verbesserung der allgemeinen ambulanten Palliativversorgung durch Information und Befähigung von Bürgerinnen und Bürgern. Z Palliativmed 2015; 16: 210–216.
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- Bollig G, Brandt F, Ciurlionis M, et al. Last Aid Course. An education for all citizens and an ingredient of compassionate communities. Healthcare2019; 7: 19.
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- Kellehear A. Compassionate communities: end-of-life care as everyone’s responsibility. QJM Int J Med2013; 106: 1071–1075.
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- Caring Community Köln. Letzte Hilfe Kurse international – Bedeutung für die Caring Community. Symposium 4th September 2024 in Cologne. https://caringcommunity.koeln/letzte-hilfe-kurse-international-bedeutung-fuer-die-caring-community/(2024, last accessed 21 November 2024).
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