Check in on family
ONE answer to the aged care problem may be that we need more volunteers or family members to visit rest homes to check if their loved ones are getting the attention they need and deserve. You can’t (or shouldn’t) just place them in there and leave them without support and some of the finer things in life. Also, if you can’t volunteer at the home your loved one is in, try to help out at another venue.
Take profit out of it
SO, the latest spurt of populism to emanate from Canberra is a proposal to establish a royal commission into aged care. Since the outcome is entirely predictable in that aged care can never be satisfactory while its provision is dependent on generation of a profit, we could save ourselves a lot of taxpayer dollars by fixing that. This is in line with the need for public provision of essential services such as administration of justice, Australia Post, air traffic control and other basic elements of community life. In case this begins to sound like full-blooded socialism, reflect on the banking royal commission and the misuse of superannuation funds which were meant to relieve the taxpayer of the need to provide a dignified retirement for all. To the best of my recollection, the huge publicly controlled super fund — I think it was originally called the Future Fund — was meant to provide capital to private enterprise so it could provide the infrastructure which is becoming increasingly necessary so it can get on with, for example, clean Rosny Hill luxury hotel development plan withdrawn from Clarence City Council More like Hunter Developments gave up and are going elsewhere. One can only stand so much negativity from the Tassie anti-everything groups.
Left alone
HAVING watched the Four Corners program, I feel quite angry/sick that this could happen in Australia. It appears people with dementia are most at risk because they are unable to speak up and defend themselves. I suspect that in many cases they are left alone and have no one to advocate for their needs. There may also be the belief that because of their cognitive decline, they are somehow less than fully human and thereby candidates for abuse. I acknowledge there are many wonderful people working in aged care, often under immense pressures.
Education can effect change. It has been a delight to do free Massive Open Online Courses from the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, University of Tasmania. Last Friday’s Dementia Symposium in Hobart was another reason to rejoice that Tasmania is at the cutting edge of studies on dementia. Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to caring for people with this illness. The Royal Commission will be further motivation to ensure education remains at the heart of improvements so the remaining years of a person’s life may truly be golden ones.
Runaway expenses
COULD the same people who managed to stop the runaway train in Devonport do something about the gravy train, especially after reading how Tasmanian politicians need millions more for expenses?
Premiership echoes
I’VE been telling half a dozen good mates since watching my beloved Magpies live at the MCG in round three that the 2018 side reminded me so much of the 1990 and 2010 premiership teams. My commentary has been met with universal derision and rebuke. Many even told me I’d lost the plot in my senior years. What’s that age-old wise saying again … he who laughs last, laughs loudest. Go Pies!