Connection is key

As restrictions due to COVID-19 continue to ease across the state, Wimmera disability and aged-care support workers are encouraging people to stay in contact with their loved ones.

Support services such as Simply Helping, which provides in-home care and support, have had to remain ‘highly vigilant’ throughout the pandemic to manage the health, welfare and safety of clients, staff and broader community.

Simply Helping south-west manager Keith Batson said interruptions to people’s lifestyle throughout COVID-19 had limited face-to-face interaction clients could have with their loved ones.

“It’s really important that we keep an eye on our elderly citizens – that they know friends and family are wanting to see them. I don’t think they’d ever knock back a visit, they love it,” he said.

“There’s a lot of people out there who do not have relatives around, they are the ones who really need care and depend on seeing a worker.

“When a worker calls in on them their faces light up.”

Mr Batson said his support workers had to balance the safety of their clients while also meeting their compassionate needs to maintain connections between family members and loved ones.

He said clients made great use of technology throughout COVID-19 to stay ‘remotely connected’ with their loved ones.

“Having Facetime and all the other programs that bring us together, where clients could ring friends and family members up and see their face, that would have been a saviour,” he said.

“For the elderly, that social interaction is vital, it’s a huge part of their life. Family and friends are everything.”

Mr Batson said the senior citizens were missing the ‘normality’ of their daily routine.

“At the height of the pandemic in the heaviest restrictions, the seniors weren’t even allowed to go shopping, we had to do the shopping for them,” he said.

“They missed all that, going shopping and their general outings and they were basically locked up at home.

“They’ve got to have people around like their friends and family.”

Mr Batson encouraged family members and friends to visit or call up loved ones as much as possible, while still remaining mindful of physical-distancing measures.