About 20 people came to the Death Cafe on Monday, organised by the Bega Valley Home Hospice Group, to talk about what can happen at the end of your life.

“We thought it would be a way of sharing information as our society doesn’t talk about death well,” the hospice group’s Julie Roberts said. 

“Even doctors don’t like telling patients they are dying.”

Corina Deneve of Numbugga said it was liberating to discuss the subject, as so many people become uncomfortable when talking about it.

“Everybody will die, but people find it rude to talk about so they say things like ‘that wont’ happen for ages’,” she said.

“But it is actually enriching to talk about.”

Ms Roberts said it was important to think about the processes that would be in place when you die.

Funerals, for instance, could cost a lot if you had not thought about them in advance. 

She also talked about the need for a hospice in the Bega Valley, saying Pambula District Hospital would be a good location due to its pleasant environment.  

Palliative care, which is defined by Palliative Care Australia as care provided to help people live their life as comfortably as possible when living with a life-limiting or terminal illness, was another of the subjects discussed on the day. 

“Everybody is getting older,” Lyn Forbes of Springvale said. 

“I have an elderly mother in her 90s

“Palliative care is something we may need someday, you never know.” 

There were not just Bega Valley locals there on the day, with Deb Foskey saying she came from Bonang in Victoria for the event as there was “nothing like it happening in East Gippsland”.