All you need to know about Aged Care

Mi Casa Property Boutique Recently sat down with Dr Nicky Howe to discuss Aged Care Services and Retirement living. While we could have talked for hours on this subject, we have tried to condense the key points for you, to help you and your loved ones on the aged care journey.

Topics of discussion included:

• What options are available to you
• What are some of the stressors when moving into aged care
• Where to start
• What you need to know

Who is Nicky?

It is important to us that we are getting our information from a trusted and well-informed source. We want to ensure that the information we provide is up to date and correct. Dr Nicky Howe is an absolute wealth of knowledge when it comes to options available to you on your aged care journey . She is a CEO, Aged Care Home Care Expert, Business Builder, Leadership and Management Coach, Speaker and Author to name a few. For more on Nicky, head on over to her LinkedIn Profile.

When it comes to Aged Care and what is available to you and your family, there is a abundance of information to be found. But sometimes all that information can be overwhelming. Here we have compiled some important information for you.

What are the various types of housing options for seniors?

• People stay in their own home and have a range of modifications done to your own home so you can cope with things. E.g. rails in your bathroom, ramps
• Retirement villages – move into a smaller place and village manages all of the externals parts and includes community options like a gym and social events
• Independent living – seniors living on a smaller block
• Residential aged care

This blog focuses on Aged Care and what options are available.

There are 3 different types of aged care:

• Home care
• Retirement village
• Residential care

What is important to remember:

• The goal of Aged care is to keep individuals in their own homes and own community for as long as possible.
• There are a range of care options from low care options and help, all the way through to a full nursing service

What holds people back from using aged care services:

• They think of it as a nursing home and the perception is that they will lose their sense of freedom.
• There are so many options out there and it can be overwhelming, so they just don’t know where to start.
• The emotional impact and overwhelm
  • Sense of emotional loss of their independence
  • Worry about Pets and other family members who they feel may rely on them
• Don’t Know what options are available to them
  • There maybe a perception that the options are limited
• Financial stressors and perceptions

What are the stresses for people staying in their own home?

• Overwhelm: They become overwhelmed, the garden becomes too big, can’t cope with doing the window cleaning, physically they can’t manage, and they don’t know that they can actually get someone to come in and help with these things. Even the cleaning, all of sudden you are by yourself and you have this huge house to clean.
• Physical Ability: The stress of peoples physical abilities, as they are they aren’t able to do the things they used to do. So physically not being able to do it becomes a stress.
• Financial: Often there is financial stress, people are no longer working, a lot of them don’t have superannuation and a lot of them are surviving on the pension which means that they are living quite close to the bone. So they don’t have the finds to get the support they need. That’s why it is important that they get assessed and be able to get some government help.
• Loneliness: feeling lonely and isolated is another stress.
• And finally the stress of wanting to get help and no knowing how to go about it.

What Aged Care can give you:

• Additional money and support to live the life you want.
• Ability to stay in your own home and community.
• Maintain your independence.
• Extra assistance and support even within your chosen retirement village, independent living option or residential aged care
• One of the major things for seniors is loneliness, they have lost their loved one, their children have moved away, so it is important to obtain that social support to keep them positive.

Where to start:

• They key is to find out what is available to you. Speak to your family, doctor and professionals about what options you have.
• Get assessed by the regional assessment team. More information below.
• Decide what you want.
  • Do you want to stay in your own home
  • Does it make sense for you to downsize
  • Look at the different models of care and support that are available to you.

What does Southcare do:

From Basic to Full Service they can provide a complete package of needs and take the time to fully understand the individual’s needs.

• Offers services into people homes including gardening and social support
• Southcare do a lot of work to provide products and modifications for people to stay in their own home.
• Provide information and support about where to start, how to get access to Aged Care support.
• Offers free seminars around housing and finances
• They provide private services which so not require assessment and wait time.

What supports can be offered to people staying in their own home:

Low level care such as garden maintenance, domestic assistance, transport and social support right through to a home care package where people are allocated a certain level of care.

The home care package is where an individual can get access to a range of support options including the prior mentioned options as well as personal care such as assistance helping them to shower, nursing services, physio to maintain fitness, meal prompts, medications support. The benefit of this is that it can be tailored to the person’s needs so you are not paying for services that you do not need. No one fits into a particular mould, so it is important that the package suits their needs.

Assistance can also be provided for obtaining the products that maybe required to continue independent living such as hearing aids, walking sticks, ramps.

What do people need to do to obtain services like SouthCare?

In order to obtain access to government funded services, you do need to have an assessment.

The first thing people need to do is go on the myagedcare website which will give them the information they need, as the first things they need to do is get assessed they need to go through the regional assessment team to have their individual situation reviewed and they will determine the level of care that is available to you.

If you are reading this and the idea of going on the website is too much then you can certainly call Southcare on 94506233 they can talk to you about the process.

But the main things is to ‘get in the queue’, it’s not about waiting until you desperately need it, its staring now and having a conversation with your loved ones and family about things you are finding difficult because low level care is easy to get access to.

It is more difficult to get the high level care, but once you are in the system it is easier to move up.

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A big thing that Southcare does is try to provide information around what the options are and what is available to them. Dr Nicky Howe and her and her team are pleased to offer information sessions on these topics.

To speak to Nicky and her team further regarding making the right decisions for your aged care contact them here: https://www.southcare.org.au/contact-us/

For more information or to speak to someone further about downsizing or selling your home then contact the Mi Casa team on 08 9339 7079 or susan.lam@micasaproperty.com . Contact Susan