Loved: Lee Stephenson asleep in her bed in Longlee. Photo: Supplied
Susie Forster, daughter of the late local artist Lee Stephenson, has shared the last two weeks of her mother’s life through a documentary.
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Last Two Weeks at Longlee shows Ms Stephenson navigate her own death with the help of family and palliative care in her home in the Goulburn Valley.
Seymour Health community services manager Paula Sutherland said Ms Stephenson was one of the patients they took care of in the Seymour community.
“It's a documentary made of one of our patients ... who came home to die at home and her daughter is a documentary filmmaker, and so she filmed her last two weeks at home,” Ms Sutherland said.
“It was her (Ms Forster) trying to show what a wonderful way someone can die at home if they’ve got the support of the community services.”
Can’t wait: Seymour Health community services manager Paula Sutherland and community services admin Casey Seale are getting ready for the screening of The Last Two Weeks at Longlee for Palliative Care Week. Photo: Faith Macale
Photo by
Faith Macale
As part of Palliative Care Week, the film will be screened at the Seymour College Auditorium on Friday, May 24.
Ms Stephenson’s family and the palliative care nurses, in the thick of COVID-19 restrictions, worked together to grant Ms Stephenson her final wish of dying at home.
In the film, Ms Forster said she was shocked by her mother’s dying wish and thought that Ms Stephenson wanted to die without seeing a doctor.
“Every time I went to see her or rang her she would say, ‘Sus, I want to go home!’,” Ms Forster said in the film.
Ms Forster said she began to film Ms Stephenson when she was having “really quirky” conversations with her about memories, dreams, people she knew.
“I thought ... I knew that she didn’t have long to live, and I thought I really want to remember some of these conversations,” she said.
“I had a conversation with my stepfather, and he said I should really make a film about how excellent the palliative care is.
“That you can get when somebody when a loved one is dying at home.”
Ms Stephenson’s husband, Roger, said on film that if anyone would like to die at home, they should do it.
“All the agencies, like palliative care, district nursing, will help you with every inch of the way,” he said.
“Just ask.”
The documentary film has been showcased in film festivals around Australia.
“We all went in to see the release, and then she showed it up at the Byron Bay International Film Festival as well last year,” Ms Sutherland said.
She mentioned that some of the nurses struggled to see themselves on the big screen.
“Some were excited to see themselves,” she said.
“We were all excited to see them up there.”
“I think it was very impressive how it turned,” Seymour Health community services admin Casey Seale said.
“They spoke really well.”
Ms Forster said she hoped people would take away the fact that death at home could be a positive experience.
“It’s well supported by palliative care systems,” she said.
“I want people to know that they have the option of helping a loved one die at home with free support from state hospital healthcare.
“I think the other reason why I made it was that I think that now our society doesn’t deal very well with death and people often feel it’s hospital business.”
“Obviously, the medical part is important for to help us with, but we’ve lost that connection to being the important people with our loved ones when they’re dying, and being at home is a way to have that connection with somebody.”
This is the first time The Last Two Weeks at Longlee will be shown in Seymour, just in time for Palliative Care Week, which is from Sunday, May 19 to Friday, May 24.
“It’s a very exciting day,” Ms Sutherland said.
“That’s (film screening) our big thing this year.”
The screening is a free event, but bookings are essential.
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