This is an article that I was asked to write for the June issue of the Grey Power magazine. As you can probably tell, it's something that I feel strongly about.

Being a Registered Nurse and working in the healthcare industry for 40 years, I’ve seen a lot of things change. One being compassion. I sometimes wonder if our health providers could learn something from the experience I had with my brother running his last marathon.

My 62 year old brother David, was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease in his late 40’s and   has osteoarthritis in one foot, making it twist inwards.

He was a builder for his working life and loved running marathons, completing over thirty. Most he completed in reasonably good times.

Running with David in his last marathon was a moving experience. It wasn’t that it was his last marathon that made it memorable, it was the many competitors, who like David, were not competing for a time or a personal best but were there competing against themselves. They wanted to prove they could “do it”.

This group of people were truly amazing. The compassion and sportsmanship shown to each other was incredible. Quiet words of encouragement. Picking you up if you faltered. Just running beside you for the company.

Compassion in healthcare is about caring. It’s also about listening and empathy. I frequently work in aged care facilities and over the years I have seen many changes. Many facilities have been bought by overseas investors and are now, very large, profit driven corporations.

The compassion shown by other competitors in the marathon appears to be missing in today’s profit driven healthcare industry.

Nurses and caregivers are being reprimanded for taking the time to sit with someone who may be afraid or dying. As a health professional I would like them to be rewarded, not criticised. The work load in some of the facilities is now becoming heavier and more task orientated for profit reasons. When or how can we find the time to listen and to care?