Service FinderToday, as we mark Aged Care Employee Day, it presents us with a great opportunity to begin a different discussion about what is aged care and what carers do?
Given the extensive media coverage of the Aged Care Royal Commission over the past few years, the average person can be forgiven for thinking that aged care and how we live as we get older comes down to one thing: a nursing home, or residential aged care.
This means aged care workers who are registered nurses, chefs, lifestyle advisors, and personal carers, just to name a few, all do an incredible job, however, there is a whole other world beyond residential aged care.
Aged Care Employee Day presents us with an opportune moment to look at the people who work to support older Australians as they reach different stages of their lives – not age. This means how we change our lifestyle depending on what we need to help us continue living our best lives. Older people can continue to live fulfilling lives with the aid of the caring efforts of wellness workers and care support
workers.
We need to shift the mindset of getting older to focus on ‘stage’ rather than ‘age’ in an individual’s journey.
We know from feedback received by the Royal Commission that most Australians want to stay living in their own homes as they get older. We aim to ‘think outside the square’ and innovate to support our clients at different stages of their lives.
As we strive to meet the needs of older people who prefer to live in their own homes, it is equally vital to acknowledge the diversity within our own workforce and their individual contributions.
What we, as home care providers, as wellness workers and care support workers do, is quite different. At ECH, our staff are welcomed into people’s homes so they can provide a range of services enabling our clients to continue to live the best life they can while staying in their own home.
For clients with a Home Care Package, our staff provide daily personal care including medication and mealtime assistance, depending on a person’s level of need. While for those older Australians who require a little less help at home, our staff can help with the garden, housework, shopping, minor maintenance tasks and even take clients for outings.
So, on Aged Care Employee Day remember to say ‘thanks for caring’ to your home care support workers or residential aged carers – they all do a fantastic job caring for our older Australians.
In the meantime, we at ECH are focused on supporting our clients at the various stages of their lives. We are thankful for the tremendous work our staff do, but there is much more to what we do than simply “aged care”.
The work of our staff is equally as important in the mix of services available to older Australians as traditional aged care workers in residential care. We are passionate about supporting people in their homes as they age – this is the future!
Original story on the ACCPA website – accpa.asn.au/aged-care-employee-day
Posted: August 7, 2023