Reduced stress in Mum’s final days

Rangitawhai Rahiri is happy in knowing they 'got it right for mum”.

Rangitawhai's mother Rauhina Moke died less than four weeks ago, aged just 63.


Rauhina Moke, who passed away on March 21, was a passionate advocate of Future Care Plans.

Her diagnosis of terminal cancer, in June 2015, rocked her family but one simple document, a Future Care Plan, helped bring clarity and reduce some of the stress of her last days.

'If you knew my mum you would know that she liked to be in control of things,” says Rangitawhai, from Te Puke.

'She obviously didn't have any control over the cancer so this (a Future Care Plan) at least gave her a sense of control over what was going to happen at the end. She was very excited about that.

'She would whip out her care plan to everyone who came in our house, get them to take a look and read it. Pretty much everyone who would listen got to hear about it.”

A Future Care Plan is a document which gives people the opportunity to write down their wishes for their healthcare.

This includes things such as: people you would like involved in decision-making, your spiritual or cultural needs, even simple preferences such as a fondness for spicy food or bright rooms for example.

Conversations That Count Day, on Saturday, is a national event profiling future care planning and the conversations family members need to have before it is too late.

Rangitawhai says for her family, having Rauhina's wishes written down by her, took away a lot of pressure and helped them cope better with the fact they were losing her.


Rangitawhai Rahiri has encouraged other family members to complete a Future Care Plan.

'It made things heaps easier for her care, and after she passed as well. It saves having to think about these things when you don't feel like thinking about them.

'There are lots of things we don't discuss, especially to do with sickness, there's a lot kept secret. But going through this process has definitely made our family closer,” she says.

'Everything was coming from her. Right down to her funeral, it was all in her care plan and she would keep scribbling things on it. At her tangi I was walking around with it in my handbag in case I had to whip it out and clear anything up.”

Rangitawhai has now spread the word about Future Care Plans to several other members of her extended family.

'Families need to discuss this, because if you don't, when the time comes and someone gets sick, you run around like headless chickens and can make bad decisions.

'Sometimes when it's left to one person to decide everything that's what can split families because disagreements arise. Here there's no argument because it's there in black and white.”

For more information on future/advance care planning go to www.advancecareplanning.org.nz

To download a Future Care Plan go to the BOPDHB website www.bopdhb.govt.nz/media/58138/my-future-care-plan-paua.pdf

Free hard copies of the Future Care Plan are available at the receptions of both Tauranga and Whakatane Hospitals.

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