How Aged Care Programs Can Support You and Your Older Loved Ones
Have you heard the term “Sandwich Generation” before? We’re typically middle-aged adults who support and care for our elderly parents as well as meeting the needs of our own family. In this mix are also the demands of our careers and work.
Women are often at the forefront of this phenomenon and still tend to be the largest providers of unpaid care. It can be stressful and exhausting. And we tend to put our wellbeing last, making sure everyone else is adequately cared for first.
Many people who contact us are Sandwich Generation mums. They are pressed for time, juggling work commitments, a growing family and trying to support ageing parents. They’re trying to get things sorted for their ageing parents, but the more they research, the more confused and stressed they become. They’re reading everything online and are thinking about referring to My Aged Care but are overwhelmed with conflicting advice and information. Our generation, the Sandwich Generation, want their parents to be safe and secure at home, but don’t know how to put the wheels in motion to make this happen.
How can in home support help?.
There aren’t enough hours in the day to take care of everyone and everything, and arranging in-home support for elderly parents often gets pushed to the backburner while the demands of raising children and juggling work commitments takes priority.
This is where the government subsidised aged care programs can make a difference. These programs support older people to remain living in their own homes by providing formal subsidised support that reduces the burden of care on adult children, namely daughters. A Home Care Package, properly managed, can relive so much stress on everyone and ensure that time spent with your older loved ones is quality time, rather than spending your weekends cleaning the bathroom and cooking meals for your ageing parents.
Many people don’t know about the support available to older people in Australia. The starting point for accessing any aged care program is My Aged Care. It is a call centre and an online portal. Generally, people meet eligibility criteria if they are 65 years or older (50 years and older for First Nations Australians) and demonstrate a need for assistance with everyday tasks.
Contacting My Aged Care isn't easy
Contacting My Aged Care doesn’t mean you will get all the support you need immediately. There is a process. The process seems simple at first glance, but it does require forethought and preparation. There are a series of questions that need to be answered to determine your need for assistance. Following this, you will be assessed by one for two assessment teams, the RAS or the ACAT, and the levels of support from these two assessment teams are different, as is the actual availability of service provision, particularly at the entry level.
So many people call us in despair, so confused about their ageing parents’ eligibility for these programs, how to go about being assessed and then knowing how to engage support once assigned a Home Care Package.
This is our speciality, getting you and your older loved ones into and through the aged care system and supporting you along the way. We know how it feels. We’ve supported our own parents through the system, and we understand how a helping hand can make all the difference.
If you’d like to know more and understand how to get the outcomes you need, just get in touch with us
Getting it wrong at this initial contact can leave you stuck in the system with inadequate support and floundering for many months, battling a system that is so complex it disadvantages those it is designed to assist.