Last week we had a call from an 85-year Tasmanian man who had put in a request for respite at the local aged care facility. Peter* had called our helpline by mistake. We listened to him for a long time and realised this was not a mistake, subconsciously this man was looking for help and somebody to talk to, lucky for both of us he dialled our Aged Care Made Easy free helpline number. Peter was a wonderful man, very articulate, smart and extremely entertaining. He had lots of stories to tell as often seniors do. Seniors don’t realise (thank goodness) that the aged care system is in crisis. Peter* previously had no idea about out the My Aged Care System or how it worked, (like many others his age).
He currently had 4 different companies looking after different aspects of his care but was recently awarded a Package 3 and was still had no idea how it would all go down.
Luckily, he had been given one of our Essential Aged Care Booklets from his Care Plan Nurse at the doctor’s surgery. Susie* his carer and Peter sat down over tea and read the Booklet and couldn’t believe how much information it contained.
In fact, what Peter said next really surprised me, he matter of factly stated that keeping this information from the elderly who didn’t have a computer was Elder Abuse, and discrimination against Seniors who didn’t have computers.
We were dumbfounded, we had never thought of it like that, but Peter is right. How can the government not provide this vital information in a printed format so our seniors can understand the system? Seniors should be angry that a small company like Aged Care Made Easy are the only ones who are providing printed information for them to read.
We should all be angry and ask the government Why Not? As a small company we have approached the Government on many occasions for funding so every elderly person in Australia can receive our essential information for free. To no avail. In the meantime, Aged Care Made Easy will continue in the background to try and get some form of help or funding so we can keep answering the free helpline and keep producing our Aged Care Made Easy Essential Booklets for all the medical centres, hospitals and elderly around Australia to help Peter*, Susie* and thousands of everyday seniors.
(*not their real name)