Turning around the challenges

We’d like to respond to the article Home support “in crisis” (Gazette 18/10).

I’d like to start by acknowledging the frustrations of people within Baw Baw Shire in relation to some of our services, as well as billing issues. I want to reassure the community that as a leading not-for-profit provider of aged care support service in Victoria, we take these issues seriously.

We have been providing aged care services to Victorians in regional and metro areas for over seventy years, and our aim is to deliver a high standard of care.

We have had some challenges this year, and I’d like be transparent in relation to some of these. Not as an excuse, but to provide some context and to outline the things we’re doing to turn things around.

As you’d be aware like other industries regionally, aged care is currently suffering a workforce shortage unlike any that we’ve ever experienced before. The impacts of COVID-19 on our sector have affected us in many ways, including increased workload and stress for carers, with many deciding to retire or change careers as a result.

The workforce shortage has impacted our ability to deliver home support to the Baw Baw community and I acknowledge the impact this is having on all of you who depend on our care.

The demand and geographic spread of customers across Gippsland means that we need a minimum of 80 In Home Service Assistants (IHSAs) in order to deliver all the services needed. Since we took over home support service delivery for Gippsland on July 1, 2022, we’ve run multiple recruitment campaigns and hired 36 new IHSAs for the area. We’ll continue running these recruitment campaigns until we’re confident that we can deliver all the services that Gippsland needs.

We’re also working closely with agencies like Employment Plus to draw new workers towards the aged care sector, as well as hiring sub-contractors to help us deliver as many critical services as possible.

I want to acknowledge our committed and dedicated employees who are working additional shifts and providing extra flexibility to help us provide as many services as possible.

While domestic assistance has been difficult for us to provide consistently, the efforts of our team have allowed us to deliver all essential services such as personal care, shopping assistance and Meals on Wheels. Community feedback has also been highly positive, recognising the efforts of our individual employees.

We acknowledge that there have been some discreet issues with our billing system and we’ve been working closely with our vendor to do a systematic review to pick these up and fix them as quickly as possible.

With the Federal budget announced last week, we are looking forward to seeing the details on funding to increase wages for home care employees so we can continue to attract and retain the people needed to deliver these essential services.

Finally, if you, or anyone you know is interested in becoming an In Home Service Assistant at Benetas, please reach out to us at careers@ benetas.com.au. If you haven’t worked in aged care before, that’s ok, we’re very welcoming of people with diverse experiences, and can provide support and on-the-job training.

Sandra Hills CEO, Benetas

Responsible planning

Unlike Ian Honey, I am rather enthused about the prospect of a new library and cultural precinct for our town.

On reading his letter to the Gazette (18/11), I did start to wonder. Mr Honey calculates that the shire could end up spending $325,000 a year in repayments for the loans required. This seems a lot of money, and I did worry if we could afford it.

I did some of my own, admittedly rather hurried, research, and found that that the population of the shire is projected to rise by 50 per cent in the coming 20 years. This will inevitably mean a considerable increase in revenue, as well as in demand for services of all kinds.

To put the library project cost in context, I also found that this year the shire will spend more than $40 million in capital investment to meet the community’s future needs - including $11 million for roads.

Many in our community understandably feel ambivalent about the number of people moving here from Melbourne and elsewhere (a good number of whom, of course, do end up staying).

I certainly feel a little unsure - even, sometimes, sad - about it. But, given that it is happening, it is surely responsible for the council to plan ahead for a larger population.

It is also, I think, reassuring that the council should anticipate the Baw Baw of the future as possessing needs which go beyond the desire for ever higher levels of efficacy with which one may drive a car.

Joe Pugh, Warragul

Flood heartbreak

The pain for flood victims will continue long after the water levels drop and well beyond the clean up and repairs.

What faces them will be a huge hike in insurance premiums, some of which will make insurance unaffordable.

They will also find that their property value will have dropped dramatically, meaning that any mortgage they have exceeds the value of the property. They may be unable to sell, for who would want to buy in a suddenly now proven flood prone area?

Amid all this heartbreak, as they fight to extract any payment from their insurance company, will they wonder why governments and property developers encouraged them to build on unsafe land, and also why their insurance company continues to invest in climate change inducing industries?

It may be prudent for everyone to check their own insurance policies to find out what they are actually covered for, and perhaps who their insurance company invests their money in.

Greg Tuck, Warragul

Boost education

Hey Mr Farnham, what are your plans to upgrade schools in Narracan, like the upgrade Victorian Labor has promised for Drouin Secondary College? This is desperately needed as development has gone crazy in this area.

Under the Liberal National Coalition when last in government, they cut more than $1 billion from education. When Kennett was in charge, 350 schools were closed - not opened or upgraded - closed. Great track record.

There is certainly more to our education system than bunking up private schools with taxpayer money.

PS, on Liberal National Party advertising, are you going to follow your fellow Libs from Melbourne who have dumped the LNP brand... really?

Deborah Wearne, Drouin

Cavalier attitude

The Tree Geebung is a native tree found only in Victoria’s Central Highlands; and has officially been considered at risk of extinction for many years.

These trees have been routinely destroyed by native logging through bulldozing or incineration, even in cases after their location has been GPS-pinpointed in private surveys, and then notified to VicForests.

In evidence before the Supreme Court in the Warburton Environment Case, it was demonstrated that VicForests completely lacked any system designed to protect the trees, even in the face of numerous notifications and warnings of their presence. In a judgement on October 25, His Honour Justice Garde found that VicForests’ operations had probably lead to the destruction of thousands of Geebungs. He ordered VicForests to undertake various specific measures designed to protect Geebungs in the future.

This case is another in a line of cases that has exposed the cavalier attitude towards sustainability adopted by VicForests’ management.

Now’s the time for the Andrews’ government to make VicForests’ management extinct.

David Clarke, Noojee

Insidious fleecing

I applaud Emma Ballingall and the editor for last week’s page three article on the scourge we have in Gippsland. Some people call it “poker machine” gambling, I call it an insidious form of fleecing the lonely.

The article certainly highlights the damage that these machines can cause and leaving some people homeless at the “pointy end “of their lives.

On top of that we have a bombarding of television commercials promoting online gambling, the income from which, I am told, surpasses the gross domestic product of Tasmania.

As the state elections approach and to be held on November 26, I am asking you all, to contact your preferred candidate, and find out what their attitude to these forms of gambling are. Also, will they be willing to sponsor or accommodate a homeless person at their own dwelling?

Ian Honey, Warragul