If your parents are elderly and frail, they may be able to remain at home with adequate support. What do we mean by support?
What kind of help can I get?
Support could include one or more of the following:
- Personal care – assistance to shower, dress and attend to cleaning teeth, doing one’s hair, applying makeup etc. to prepare for the day ahead and/or to assist at night.
- Medication Management – someone attending at the time medications are due to ensure the ageing individual takes the right medications, the right dose at the right time. Other mechanisms can be put in place to assist with medication management such as dosette boxes, webster packs and devices with timers which notify the individual that it is time to take the medication and allowing access to only those medications that are due.
- Meals – whether it be assistance with meal preparation, shopping or arranging delivery of home-cooked meals.
- Domestic help – cleaning of the home, garden maintenance and assistance with domestic tasks such as shopping or changing light bulbs.
- Personal alarms and monitoring – a system that checks ageing individuals are safe each day and/or an emergency button to call for help. There are numerous options available.
- Social activity – social visits or assistance getting to or from functions or connecting into networks with like individuals. Social isolation is one of the biggest issues with the elderly so addressing this is vital. More information on how to combat social isolation can be found here.
- Mobility Aids – it is worth having a physiotherapy assessment to ensure ageing individuals are safe when walking to prevent falls as the result of a fall is the most common trigger for entering an aged care facility. Some subsidies are also available for fit-outs (grab bars, railings etc.) where considered necessary.
How do you access these home help supports?
There are currently 3 options to access home help:
- If you are a DVA gold or white card holder, DVA provides a range of home care services at little or no cost to those who need assistance. Call DVA on 133 254 to start the process.
- If you are 65 or over and need help, the Federal Government provides subsidised home care packages. Just be wary that if you do not receive a full age pension, these packages can be more expensive than paying a private provider. For more information and to get the process started call MyAgedCare on 1800 200 422 or go to myagedcare.gov.au
- Engaging a private service and self-funding the costs.
You can combine the options and there are advantages and disadvantages to each option. If you need more information contact us on 1800 500 780.
When the time comes to look for an aged care facility, please read this blog post POST YET TO BE DONE INCLUDE LINK.
Until next time
Margaret Harrison