Home Services
Maintaining one’s independence is very important. Staying in your own home is especially important to many of us. We understand this. Families often perform Herculean feats in supporting our loved ones at home. The burden on the family and individual can be large and place an increasing amount of carer stress on everyone. Services are designed to address the needs of seniors (and carers) and may help with things like cleaning, shopping, dressing or bathing. Other services such as pre-prepared meals can be organised for regular delivery to home (and can be reheated in a microwave) and in-home or day respite centres may be available locally to you for those living with frailty or dementia.
Whilst support services can be sought from the private sector, eligible seniors can access services through My Aged Care and an ACAT assessment. Similarly, for those under the age of 65 (defined as geriatric age in Australia), support services can be provided for certain conditions (e.g. dementia) through the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Both these schemes allow the older person or their family to choose care providers. If there are problems with a service provider, you can change to another one, which was more difficult in the past.
Often, a comprehensive assessment by a geriatrician can aid the review process for ACAT or NDIS by providing key information for the reviewing team as well as managing some of the medical problems that could be contributing to the need for services. We look at the big picture at the Salus Clinic, not just at the need for services, but trying to identify ways to ensure our seniors can continue to lead fulfilling independent lives in their own homes.