There are a number of care and support options available for elderly relatives, or those suffering from dementia, who wish to stay in their own home. Options mostly fall into the following categories:
- Relatives or close friends
- Government funded care
- Volunteer & charity services
- Private care
Quite often care will be a combination of one or more of the above.
Relatives or close friends
For a variety of reasons lots of elderly and those suffering from dementia choose to remain in their own homes rather than go into a retirement village or a nursing home. While this can be a rewarding experience for the person providing care at home, it can also be extremely stressful and one of the toughest jobs a relative/friend can take on. Burn out, stress, anxiety, guilt, frustration, anger and other serious health conditions can result if a caregiver doesn’t take care of themselves while providing care for their relative.
Therefore, if you do decide to provide some, or all, of the care for a loved one at home, the most important thing is to pace yourself and stay healthy. This will ensure you can continue to provide ongoing supportive care. The following tips may help you to keep caring whilst also looking after yourself.
- Assess the amount of care and type of care that is required.
- Be realistic about how much care you can provide without burning out.
- Get help and ask for help.
- Share the caregiving responsibility.
- Try and reduce any financial burden placed on you.
- Continually reassess the amount and type of care required, as circumstance change.
Click on the below links to find out more about:
Tips for Keeping a Parent/Elderly Relative Who Wishes to Stay at Home and
Carer Burn Out. How to Know if You Are Stressed Out?
Getting paid for being a family caregiver – Government Benefits Carers NSW Australia
Government funded care
The Australian Government subsidises the cost of care support services that enable people to stay in their own homes. The amount needed to pay depends on the service required and in some cases an individual’s financial situation.
Eligibility for Government-subsidised care is based on need. If there has been a change in an individual’s memory, family care arrangements, mobility or they have been diagnosed with a medical condition. Also, if they have recently experienced a fall or been admitted into a hospital.
Depending on needs that are required, services are accessed through the Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) or a Home Care Package (HCP). An assessment is usually the first step in accessing these services.
- CHSP Entry-Level Support – This entry-level programme is designed to provide relatively low intensity or small amounts of support services to a large number of frail/elderly.
- Home Care Packages – This is the next tier of support helping people with complex care needs to live independently in their own homes. There are 4 levels of HCP, from basic care needs (2 hours of care per week) to High Care Needs (10 to 13 hours of care per week).
Whilst helping financially there is often long wait time to get Home Care Packages, particularly levels 3 and 4. Depending on the provider there is often little or no choice in the carers and reduced flexibility of when the service is provided. Most providers charge a fee to administer the package.
To find out more about these government packages and how to get assessed to access them visit My Aged Care – Help at Home
Other government services are short-term care, for a set period of time:
- Short-term restorative care: Help with everyday tasks
- Transition care: Help to recover after a hospital stay
- Respite care: Help to give you or your carer a break
Find out more about these services by visiting My Aged Care – Short-term Care
My Aged Care website gives all the information about available government assistance and packages. Tel: 1800 200 422 and talk in person to a My Aged Care Representative.
Volunteer & Charity Services
There are a number of volunteer and charity services available to help elderly and those suffering from dementia to stay in their own homes. If accepting help from a volunteer organization or a charity helps your loved one stay at home, don’t be proud and look into how they can help. Below some of the services available, click on the links to go to their websites.
- Meals on wheels
- Companionship social support – Australian Red Cross
- Sydney Community Services
- Carers NSW Australia
- Community Visitors Scheme (CVS)
Private Care
There are a number of ways to hire private cares, below are two options:
- Employing a carer(s) directly
- Employing carer(s) through an agency
Employing Carer(s) Directly
Employing a carer directly can initially appear to be a cheaper option which can work to benefit both parties.
Employing a carer directly will:
- Involve interviewing potential carer(s), reference checking, police checks, putting into place contracts, ensuring insurances are in place (either by you or the carer). Alternatively, paying cash in hand which generally mean there is no public liability, workers compensation, professional indemnity insurances and the carer doesn’t receive superannuation.
- Give clients access to a limited number of carers. This also means if a client or their families are not satisfied with a carer then they have to go through the interviewing and selective process again.
Employing carer(s) via a private agency will:
- Provide ongoing coordination and assessment. Agencies, if they are a quality supplier, should ensure carer and client needs are met and match the level of care with the skill and personality of the carer.
- Provide replacement carers If the client or family are not happy with the one supplied until a good fit is found.
- Pay for all insurances, income taxes and carer’s superannuation.
Generally, there is a long wait time for HCP especially for levels 3 and 4. Depending on the service provider clients (or relatives) do not get a choice in carers.
Private providers such as Taylored Home Care delivers ongoing coordination, assessments and family support to all its clients. If a client or its family members are not happy with a carer then a replacement is found, at no work to family members.
Complimenting relatives that are providing care, government-funded care, non for profit/volunteer organisations, Taylored Home Care enjoys working alongside all services.