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Tuesday, 14 June 2011 18:17
This Excerpt is from Chapter One
Chapter One: If it sounds Too Good to Be True, it Might Not Be
Now that is a very strange statement to come out with. For many it would indeed
be a very strange statement to make.
I for one am a Believer, Dreamer and Visionary. One where we would all be very
happy to live in and be part of. Utopia is one name that has been to describe
such a place. But where does that fit in with aged care.
It would be fantastic to have villages full of happy, vibrant, Community and
Family oriented and holistically healthy people. One in which everyone lives to
their full potential and not a burden on society.
I know that I do not want to end up in an aged care facility, at least the ones
we have servicing our senior citizens. The individuals who poured out their
sweat, blood, tears, heart and soul into building the communities and nations we
have today. We are talking about the biggest resource that we have today, a
fountain of knowledge. Knowledge that is going to be lost with so much of our
heritage going with it. We are becoming more disconnected as a society everyday.
We have forgotten to be Community, Family and Us (Collectively speaking of me).
I have spent over fifteen years directly and indirectly working in Aged and
Disability Care and am left without words at how I feel about the type and level
of care that is delivered. I remember seeing on in newspapers in October 2008
that there was seven hundred and fifty thousand cases of abuse. Around December
2010 these figures had dropped to between the figure of fifteen and eighteen
thousand, with several facilities being closed down or change of ownership to
help bring them back into line with the ADHA (Ageing, Disability and Home Care –
Department of) requirements. I have seen the best, the worst, the absolutely
horrifying, the insane, the loving and caringness and the possibilities of a
better way in which we can achieve in improving and changing the way in which we
deliver Ageing, Disability and General Care.
I also believe I have an insight that many people would never have, let alone
the opportunity or worse, have had their abilities lost as I had when I was
placed under psychiatric treatment and subsequently incurred permanent brain
damage. I am not here to attack Psychiatry as I see that they of all the fields
of medicine, are left to take care of the responsibilities that belong with all
of us. I see this as a means of getting myself out of the rut and being able to
put what I claim as having been a victim of a nasty and unlawful hate attack
because of who I am. I also believe that once someone has found a method in
which things can be done differently it is easier for others to follow and even
develop what has been done. But it takes just one person to get of their
backside and do. My biggest issue is getting over the fear that I will have my
rights taken away from me through the psychiatry but then I remind myself of the
acronym (FEAR) which can stand for False
Evidence
Appearing
Real. I also acknowledge that it was
not psychiatry’s fault or responsibility for my hospitalisation but the people
who gave false and misleading information that was used to make the psychiatric
diagnosis. Yes I will say my rights and freedom were lost but I also was able to
work with psychiatrists on being able to have this diagnosis removed or at least
acknowledged as no longer presenting as having a mental illness.
Now we are faced with new and overwhelming statistics which show that in
Australia we have 1500 new cases of Dementia every week (time of media release
January 2011) which translates into 78 000 new cases a year to the predicted
blow out to of 7500 per week or otherwise put 390 000 per year. With these
figures if they were the amount of children or women being abused or sexually
assaulted, or this amount of people being diagnosed with life threatening
illness such as cancer we would have a very large number of concerned citizens
demanding that the issue be addressed but because it is Ageing we just sit on
our hands and do nothing and hope that someone might change the situations.
So in this publication I want to focus on what can be done and not on the can
not be done or the even worst situations possible. This is about freeing a
stolen generation; it’s returning the quality of life that we as individuals
have earned. It’s about the Right to Be. There are two keep components to this
and they are “Ageing with Certainty” and “The Return Journey from Dementia”.
This then is taken to the management level where the day to day
operations take place and the overseeing of the key components ensuring The
Right to Be is maintained and explained with the reasons why they are there.
As we move into an age where we are all living longer than we have before, we
have to start thinking in a different way to that we practice today. Since the
governments of the world are not going to be able to afford the ongoing costs of
delivering quality care services. It ultimately is going to fall to Us. The Buck
is going to stop with Us. Not the Local, State or Federal governments, not with
WHO (World Health Organisation) but with Us. We are all responsible for the
current and future care that is given to those who need it. The Buck has to stop
with Us and we have to take control of our lives and take them back from the
very powers that we gave them to.
So how can we change this system, one which is becoming very quickly a user pay
system? If you are blessed financially and can afford the very best of
everything then "good on you". But like most people we have not thought that
there would be a day when our care would have to be paid for. Our superannuation
for our retirement is not going to cut it in the real world of the future. We
also like many thought the governments around the globe would take care of our
aged pensions. That will not happen because there just is not enough money to
keep any care based system operational.
So what can we, as individuals do to change this situation? Many different
approaches are what we need to address the issue of a growing aged population. I
know that I want to have a better future for all people, no matter who they are,
where they are from. One in which all are treated with the same amount of
respect and dignity as everyone else. This is why I am writing “Aged Care
Reform” and the two subsequent lecture series dealing with the administrative
and clinical skills needed to bring about a new era in Aged and Disability Care.
So to have a system of care that embraces the basic rights of every individual
we need to involve the individual in the actual process. The problem with the
current model of Aged and Disability care is that it basically requires the
individual to be in need of assistance. E.G. they are not able to take care of
their own day to day needs. Or more to the point, the system can not operate
unless it disables its clientele. This applies more to Aged care than Disability
care because the more that staff have to assist the individual; the more funding
there is to cover costs. Many of the Care Service Providers would not survive if
it wasn’t for government funding. Now it’s time that we all take responsibility
for the future of Our Care Service industry. It is time to change the way we
deliver Aged and Disability care. It is time to return the control of every
individual in Aged and Disability care to the one person who should have control
of You and that is You.
At the time of writing this piece so many really horrible natural disasters have
take place and we as a community, locally and globally have shown that we
haven’t forgotten how to be a community and what good old fashioned Community
Spirit is. Now is the time that we started to place this sense of Community
Spirit into everyday living actions. Like the Nike` ad says “Just Do It”.
For more details please email
marcus@agedcarereform.com