Fancy being showered by your grandkids?
Glenda Gartrell (86), a consumer representative for Maridulu Budyari Gumal – the Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research and Enterprise (SPHERE) – says older Australians deserve affordable, equitable home care and access to technology that supports their independence and dignity. In this Thought Piece, she writes no one should have to choose between a meal, a shower, or the tools that help them live safely at home.
I’m 86 and while I live independently, I know I am one fall away from disaster and having to rely on others to care for me.
Because that is how I view losing my independence.
I read with great interest this article by Professor Kathy Eagar AM.
Glenda Gartrell. Credit: Supplied
Prof Eagar has highlighted the flaws in transaction based aged care services which effectively gives precedence to wealthier people and leaves behind the most vulnerable older people, those on low incomes, renters and the homeless.
What this means is the articulate middle-class consumers who have the means to access whatever services we need.
But, and this is a big but, it depends on what is available.
Help like assistance with personal care such as washing and showering ourselves, we will most likely get with little inconvenience.
However, I am very concerned for those who can’t pay as they will either go without or have to rely on family to help whenever they can.
So much for the government’s rhetoric of a rights based aged care system, when in reality it will force many poorer people to endure a demeaning situation.
No one should have to choose between a meal, a shower, or the tools that help them live safely at home, writes Glenda Gartrell. Credit: AdobeStock
A fairer contribution model would be for consumer contributions to be capped at no more than 10 percent of a person’s fortnightly income, with provisions for fee waivers in cases of financial hardship.
Like other clinical services, personal care such as showering and toileting should be free.
If the Government is serious about enabling older people to age in place, home care must be made affordable, equitable and accessible.
No older person in Australia should be forced choose between a meal and a shower.
This simply is not acceptable in 21st century Australia.
So, what’s the answer?
Well, I understand two things are the answer.
One is that very few older people understand or use wearable technology like the Apple watch which has fall detection.
Those of us who rely on it do so confident that we are never alone and in the case of a hard fall, help will arrive.
The other thing we understand is this: there seems to be no halfway between patients and their needs and how technology can work with them to satisfy their needs and resolve problems which occur when we are alone in our homes.
Us older people who want to retain our independence also want to be consulted on how technology can help us resolve health care problems so that we understand our own roles and that of the technological solutions on offer.
A key area would be leaving hospital and having help to transition to our previous independent lifestyle.
Like many of my generation, I’m proud to live independently and want to stay that way. But we can’t do it alone.
We need a system that values our independence as much as we do — one that makes home care affordable, integrates technology wisely, and treats every older person with dignity.
None of us should have to choose between being clean and being fed. That’s not the Australia we built.