by Social Futures Community Hub | 25, Jan 2023 | Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People, Aged care, Families and children, Health and wellbeing (including Mental Health), Services and support groups
A new Oxfam report has found that the richest 1% of Australians accumulated 10 times more wealth than the bottom 50% of the population in the past decade, as cost-of-living pressures bite and global inequality spikes.
Published just as political and business leaders gather in the luxury Swiss ski resort of Davos for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, Oxfam’s report Survival of the Richest shows how extreme wealth and extreme poverty have increased simultaneously for the first time in 25 years.
You can read the full report HERE.
by [email protected] | 25, Jan 2023 | Aged care, Training and professional development
Would you know what to do if someone you support was experiencing thoughts of suicide?
Anglicare’s Suicide Prevention for Seniors Program equips those who support older people with the knowledge to help prevent suicide.
The free program offered nationally and includes a general suicide prevention gatekeeper training followed by a workshop contextualising the training for older people. The two parts should only take a total of 3 hours to complete.
The program is funded by the NSW and Australian governments. To be eligible, you need to be working with older people and have internet access.
This program is suited to aged care workers, retirement living staff, pharmacists, geriatricians, GP practice staff (clinical and non-clinical) and anyone who works closely with older people.
This program assumes no prior knowledge in mental health or suicide prevention.
If you are interested, please email Anglicare at [email protected] or visit the Anglicare website.
by Social Futures Community Hub | 17, Jan 2023 | Aged care, Families and children
Carers NSW is holding a Ballina workshop that will look at future planning for carers on Thursday, February 23.
See attached pamphlet.
by Social Futures Community Hub | 21, Dec 2022 | Aged care
From 1 January 2023 Healthy North Coast (HNC) is commissioning the Commonwealth funded care finders. This program essentially supports older vulnerable people to access aged care services. It is a specialised program and focuses on those people that have specialised needs that can not ‘navigate’ the aged care system on their own.
Who are the targeted audience
The care finder target population is people who are eligible for aged care services and have one or more reasons for requiring intensive support to:
- interact with My Aged Care (either through the website, contact centre or face-to-face in Services Australia service centres) and access aged care services and/or
- access other relevant supports in the community.
Reasons for requiring intensive support may include:
- isolation or no support person (e.g. carer, family or representative) who they are
- comfortable to act on their behalf and/or who is willing and able to support them to
- access aged care services via My Aged Care
- communication barriers, including limited literacy skills
- difficulty processing information to make decisions
- resistance to engage with aged care for any reason and their safety is at immediate
- risk or they may end up in a crisis situation within (approximately) the next year
- past experiences that mean they are hesitant to engage with aged care, institutions or
- government.
Where are we at?
The local Assistance with Care and Housing (ACH) providers listed below will be transitioning across on the 1st January. Organisations that are being commissioned into the program will be announced early in the new year and will be implementing services from April
Process after 1st January
Referrals to a care finder organization providing support with housing (ie old ACH providers):
| Provider |
CareXcell |
Lifetime Connect |
Hammond care |
| Intake phone number |
02 66511649 |
02 65682522 |
1800 826 166 |
| Port Macq-Hastings |
|
|
X |
| Kempsey |
|
|
X |
| Nambucca Valley |
X |
X |
X |
| Coffs Harbour |
X |
X |
X |
| Bellingen |
X |
X |
X |
| Clarence Valley |
|
|
X |
| Richmond Valley |
|
|
X |
| Kyogle |
|
|
X |
| Ballina |
|
|
X |
| Byron |
|
|
X |
| Lismore |
|
|
X |
| Tweed |
|
|
X |
Referrals for other vulnerable people from April / May
Updated information will be provided before March on local services and intake numbers.
Any questions about the program – any of the ageing team are available for questions
Bron McCrae – Deputy Director Healthy Living and Ageing
Deb Smythe – Project officer Healthy Living and Ageing team
Ashleigh Childs – NNSW Healthy Ageing Coordinator
Judy Bartholomew – MNC Healthy Ageing Coordinator
by heather.tannock | 21, Dec 2022 | Aged care, Young people
Are you 15 – 25 years and provide support to a family member or friend. Carer Gateway offers. The Art of Peer Support and invites young carers to express themselves through visual art. There are four free online sessions.
When: 10, 12, 17 and 19 January 2023
10:00am – Midday
Register here: https://analytics-au.clickdimensions.com/cn/aosfc/artofpeersupport
by heather.tannock | 21, Dec 2022 | Aged care
Approved providers are encouraged to attend the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission’s webinar, ‘Aged care sector reforms – current status and what’s next?’ at 3pm-4pm AEDT on Thursday 15 December.
As of 1 December 2022, the Code of Conduct for Aged Care, SIRS in home care and strengthening provider governance apply.
This webinar will recap these reforms and the education and resources available for providers, workers and consumers.
Participants will also hear about the Commission’s assessment and monitoring process and what to expect from site visits.
The webinar will include a moderated Q&A session and the recording will be available on the Commission’s website.
Register to attend the webinar.
by heather.tannock | 13, Dec 2022 | Aged care
The Improving respite care for people with dementia and their carers grant opportunity is now open on GrantConnect. Applications close on Monday 16 January 2023.
The grant program aims to increase support to informal carers and families caring for a person living with dementia, through access to dementia–specific respite services and a focus on carer wellbeing.
Grant activities will focus on innovative and new approaches to improve the quality and experience of respite care for people living with dementia.
by heather.tannock | 13, Dec 2022 | Aged care, Services and support groups
Casino Neighbourhood Centre has just opened a low cost pantry.
Just come along, there are no eligibility requirements needed, everyone welcome. We also have a range of children’s presents and clothes available for free for families in need this Christmas as well. Further details contact Nakeeta.
E: [email protected]
T: 02 6662 2898 W: mymomentum.org.au
by heather.tannock | 13, Dec 2022 | Aged care
The Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care has recently launched EngAged, a monthly email newsletter for older people in Australia.
The newsletter will include regular updates from the Council of Elders, news on the aged care reforms and stories about ageing well.
It will also provide information about programs or services that may be of interest to people who use aged care.
Subscribe to EngAged or read our first edition.
We encourage you to share this information with your clients or older people in your community who may find it helpful.
by heather.tannock | 13, Dec 2022 | Aged care
The new Code of Conduct for Aged Care (the Code) sets out standards of behaviour for approved providers, their aged-care workers and governing persons, helping to build confidence in the safety and quality of care for older Australians.
Find support resources, including guidance materials for providers and workers, on the Code webpage on the Commission’s website and the Code webpage on the department’s website.
by heather.tannock | 6, Dec 2022 | Aged care
The Social Policy Research Centre at UNSW is doing a case study on how social service providers cannurture volunteering in CALD communities to reach out to older people at a higher risk of social isolation.
They focus on an under-researched model of community volunteering, which has been practised by Chinese Australian Services Society Ltd. (Huaren Fuwu She 華人服務社, here in after as “CASS”) for more than a decade. This co-designed research is funded by Multicultural NSW providing SPRC and CASS jointly contribute to the project. The central question for this research is: how has CASS managed its volunteer activities to allow continuous contributions from CALD older people? For the full article follow the link
https://www.unsw.edu.au/research/sprc/our-projects/sustaining-old-age-volunteerism-among-CALD-population
by heather.tannock | 6, Dec 2022 | Aged care, Research reports and information, Services and support groups
The 2023 National Volunteering Conference will be held on Ngunnawal Country, Canberra at the Australian National University from 13-14 February 2023.
Join us as we come together to launch Australia’s first National Strategy for Volunteering in ten years. Early bird registration until 16/12/22 here: https://www.volunteeringaustralia.org/2023-national-volunteering-conference/register-now/
by heather.tannock | 6, Dec 2022 | Aged care, Training and professional development
Health Education and Training Institute (HETI) is offering Older People’s Mental Health scholarships in courses or units within its Applied Mental Health Studies framework for Semester 1, 2023.
The scholarships cover 75% of the cost of study and are supported by the NSW Ministry of Health’s Mental Health Branch.
The scholarships are open to:
- NSW Health professionals providing mental health services to older people and their families/carers
- aged care staff working within mental health residential aged care partnership services supported by NSW Health funding
- clinicians providing mental health care to older people through primary health networks.
Applications close on Friday, 16 December 2022.
For further information and to apply, visit the HETI website.
https://hnc.org.au/news-story/older-peoples-mental-health-scholarships-now-open-xhp/
by heather.tannock | 6, Dec 2022 | Aged care, Training and professional development
Key healthcare workers in regional NSW will be given the opportunity to enter the workforce or upskill, thanks to the NSW Government’s $5 million Rural and Regional Health Career Scholarships program.
Full article can be found HERE.
by heather.tannock | 6, Dec 2022 | Aged care
The United Nations have a new tool to assist with finding evidence that supports research and focus funding in targeted areas as a part of the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing.
Evidence and gap maps are interactive tools that help researchers and decision makers discover existing evidence on a given topic, find solutions supported by evidence, and identify gaps in the evidence where more research is required.
To help improve the quality of lives for current and future generations learn more through this short video. Learn how technology can minimise loneliness and social isolation. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fTxIES-wjA
Also access the Decades Progress report on Healthy Ageing here: https://www.decadeofhealthyageing.org/topics-initiatives/other-initiatives/progress-report
