New grants to help prevent falls

The ACT government has recently announced grants totalling over $144k to help prevent falls, a major cause of serious injury in older people and people with a disability. I know because my Nanna was in robust good health until at the age of 96 she fell and broke her hip. Infection set in and unfortunately she never recovered.

The one that caught my eye was the Tai Chi program at the YMCA. Weight-bearing exercise can help prevent osteoporosis and Tai Chi helps maintain flexibility and balance. The ability to maintain core strength as people get older is really important and its great to see focused funding to help provide access to programs such as these.

According the ACT Health site, the grants are broken up as follows:

	Project	Amount Funded 09/10
Arthritis ACT	More Ways to help our members stay on their feet	$26,478
Morshead Home	Blood Pressure and Staff Work Practices in Falls Prevention	$30,000
National Brain Injury Foundation	Restoring and Maintaining Balance while living with a disability/brain injury	$21,980
Therapy ACT	Falls Prevention Program for Aging Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in ACT	$46,508
YMCA Of Canberra	Tai Chi for Falls Prevention Training and Programs- Extension	$19,600
	Total Funded 2009/10	$144,566

Support for Retirement Village Code of Conduct

Welcome news today from the Chief Minister Jon Stanhope that a re-elected ACT Labor Government will legislate a Code of Conduct for retirement villages in the ACT.

This announcement builds on the work done by ACT Labor MLA Mary Porter in consulting with the community on the needs of residents, owners and operators.

It’s crucial that with our ageing population, the financial and social interests of all those involved are well understood, clearly documented and observed.

The code of conduct will help build a legal platform for the future, and compliments the ACT Labor Government’s strategies for the provision of affordable housing options for older Canberrans.

Since ACT Labor came to Government in 2001, 900 aged care beds have either been delivered, or are under design or construction.

GP Locum Service

The election announcement this morning that a re-elected ACT Labor Government will commit $1.94 million over 4 years into a GP locum service is excellent news for the city’s aged community.

Complementing the existing out-of-hours CALMS service for residents of aged care facilities, the new daytime service will mean aged people will have better access to health services where they live.

Visiting GPs will also be able to focus on prevention and early intervention, taking a load off our hospitals and providing a more personalised service.

It is a practical measure that will be welcomed in aged facilities across the city.

Focus on Carers

Carers ACT is a surprisingly large organisation. It provides an extensive range of services, support, information and education across the ACT community and has close to 100 full and part time staff. It is also a strong advocate of the needs of carers in Canberra and has campaigned long and hard for an integrated approach to supporting the needs of carers in our community.

And the needs of carers cannot be underestimated. With over 40,000 people in the ACT providing some form of informal, unpaid care, there is growing demand for a range of support services that not only help those who need care, but address the needs of those people providing care.

Carers provide physical, emotional and spiritual support for people in need, but often their own needs are overlooked.

It can be tough being a carer, impacting on a person’s quality of life. My Mum looked after my Nan for nearly 20 years, only to pass away less than 7 years after her.

My wife cared for her Mum from when she was 18 after her Mum had a stroke at 42. My wife and I now provide ongoing care and support for her as she grows older.

And it is the needs of the carers themselves that Carers ACT supports. They provide a range of programs including:

* Carer support services

* Information on financial benefits carers may be entitled to

* Information on legal issues, carers’ health and wellbeing, grief and loss

* Respite programs to give carers a much needed break from the day to day care of others

The respite programs include the “Home from Home” program at “The Cottage” which provides respite for carers of people with dementia. This offers a supportive, homely environment with day, overnight or host family options.

There is also a program for young carers, something I strongly support, where young people up to 25 who help care for someone in the family who has an illness, disability or mental health issue, can seek assistance and support. This can be as simple as someone to talk to in a similar situation to themselves, through to getting time out from their day to day caring activities.

The ACT Government is supporting Carers ACT, securing 1200m2 of space at the new community hub in Holt. This will be tremendous boost for Carers ACT – they can move from more highly priced space in Belconnen and have the room to grow their services, co-located with organisations such as St Vinnies.

The people at Carers ACT are a passionate and compassionate bunch. And they add a great deal to the outcomes of thousands of people in our community.

Free Bus Travel for over 75’s

The Stanhope Government has committed $500,000 over 4 years to provide free travel on ACTION buses for people over 75.

Minister for Territory and Municipal Services John Hargreaves says the objective of the scheme is to encourage existing drivers over 75 to surrender their driver’s licence, where they may no longer be capable of driving safely, by providing free transport on ACTION buses.

This is a sensible initiative, which will provide economic assistance to the elderly, help with road safety, and improved environmental outcomes.

I had a chat yesterday with Paul Flint, Executive Director of Council on the Aging (COTA) in the ACT. It’s clear that the needs of the aged are highly complex and the policy initiatives required to address the changing demographics in the ACT will be a constant challenge in the future. It’s something the Stanhope Government recognises and providing free bus travel is one element of the overall strategy.

Construction of new Aged Care Beds at Mirinjani

I see the Chief Minister has launched the construction of 64 new beds at the Mirinjani Nursing Home in Weston.

Mirinjani has developed a strong reputation for delivering quality aged care and the $15m extension will add to their already extensive facilities.

One important aspect is that the new 64 beds will provide both low and high care for dementia sufferers. My Mum went through a tough time in the last few years of her life in a nursing home and one of the most difficult aspects was the integration of dementia and non-dementia sufferers. It’s great to see efforts being made to provide specific dementia services – the beds will have their own ensuite and will be purpose-built to assist with Mirinjani’s “person centred” care model.

Boost for Aged and Community Care

Health Minister Katy Gallagher has announced a funding boost for aged and community care services in the Territory.

The additional $1.9m will be directed at providing improved care to people in their homes including personal and respite care, domestic assistance, social support and home maintenance.

It also means the opening hours of the Aged Care and Rehabilitation Service at Kirra in Belconnen, and the Tuggeranong Day Care Centre will be extended from 8.30 am to 4.30 pm Monday to Friday rather than only from 10.00 am to 2.00 pm.

This will improve access for aged people and assist people with staying in their homes rather than prematurely entering a residential aged care facility.

All up, the Federal and ACT governments spend nearly $25m funding aged and community care programs each year.

Long Term Health Planning

I was very pleased to see the headlines in the CT this morning outlining a long term health care reform agenda for Canberra.

The planning required for an effective health system of the future needs to start now. We can’t rely on planning that only links in with the electoral cycle and Minister Katy Gallagher’s request for the Health Department to draw up a 10 year plan is welcome news.

Innovative ideas like the use of Barn Theatres where surgical staff and resources are shared between operations are being used effectively in Europe, although there have been concerns over the increased risk of infection. This risk can be reduced by the use of “airwalls” to stop the potential spread of disease. Other suggested innovations such as a “hot floor” at Canberra Hospital where operating theatres and intensive care facilities co-exist, make absolute sense.

The development of a Community Health Centre in Gungahlin is also an important step in providing health facilities closer to population growth centres. With a projected four fold increase in those aged over 85 by 2032, there is also a need to plan for a dramatic increase in bed numbers.

Aided by strong community consultation, we can get the planning process right. The first steps are to engage with the community on our existing and future needs, and to ensure we have access to quality research and innovative practices that are being used effectively in other health systems around the world.

If we continue to develop a mindset of analysis, target and review, we can adapt and modify our plans as our needs change.

Five Wishes

I’ve come across an interesting site called Aging with Dignity. It provides practical advice and tools to ensure as a seriously ill patient we receive appropriate levels of care with dignity.

One such tool is the concept of Five Wishes. As the site explains, Five Wishes is a living will that lets your family and doctors know:

1. Which person you want to make health care decisions for you when you can’t make them
2. The kind of medical treatment you want or don’t want
3. How comfortable you want to be
4. How you want people to treat you
5. What you want your loved ones to know

The wishes in themselves are simple queries, but they hold within them deeper questions about who we are and what we need to preserve our dignity when we are seriously ill.

Being from the US, I’m not sure how well it would meet our legal requirements such as Power of Attorney. I’d be interested to know if there are similar Australian based initiatives in this area.

With Five Wishes, you can:

• Choose who you want to make health care decisions for you when you can’t make them yourself
• Make decisions about life support treatment and resuscitation
• Choose how you want to be treated for pain and the things you need to make you as comfortable as possible
• Choose how you want people to treat you including regular visiting, being by your side, your pastoral needs etc; and
• What you want those close to you to know, such as respecting your wishes even though they might not agree with them.

It seems such an approach could help those around a sick person understand what they need to preserve the patient’s dignity as much as possible, and what to do in the event that someone is close to death.

Worth looking at I’d suggest. For further info, you can download a PDF of the Five Wishes here.

Euthanasia Debate Reignites

I see in the CT this morning the debate on euthanasia has reignited with Senator Bob Brown writing to the PM and Opposition Leader asking for a conscience vote on a bill for the Rights of the Terminally Ill.

No doubt this will fire up a vigorous debate in the community which I strongly encourage.

My position on voluntary euthanasia is simple: it’s about dignity.

I believe, under strict conditions, terminally ill people have the right to choose the time of their passing, to choose to leave their life at peace and with dignity.

My views are driven not just by ideology but by personal experience – both my mum and dad passed away in circumstances where they both suffered and lost their dignity at the end of their lives.

As Civil Liberties Australia puts it:

“CLA supports a person’s rights over his or her mind and body, from birth through death. Competent individuals should have free choice in advance whether they wish to receive treatment, or continuing treatment when no longer competent. A person is free to end his or her own life. These rights should be contained in legislation.”

Notwithstanding my position on the issue of euthanasia, it is entirely at odds with our democratic system of Government that two jurisdictions with self-government and self-determination can be overruled by the Federal Government, simply because of their status as Territories. The Northern Territory’s “Rights of the Terminally Ill” Act was overturned by the Howard Government in 1997. Similarly, the ACT civil unions legislation was quashed twice by the Coalition because it disagreed with its intent and outcomes.

The people who live in the ACT and NT are no different to those that live in any other state where if such a law was passed, it would remain free from intervention from another Government in this country.

It’s time to review the powers of the Commonwealth to intervene in the matters of the Territories and to once and for all, ensure that the people of the ACT and the Northern Territory have the same rights as all else in this country and that the practice of discrimination on the basis of geographic location is forever more a thing of the past.