The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety is proposing major changes to the way aged care facilities are staffed in a bid to attract more workers to the sector and ensure staff are able to perform their jobs properly. Counsel assisting the royal commission, Peter Rozen QC, told the royal commission on Friday, “We submit that if the goal of this Royal Commission is to make recommendations to achieve high quality, safe and person-centred aged care services, as...

  Opposition leader Anthony Albanese laid down his vision for an ageing population in a speech on Wednesday, invoking memories of his mother. “Having grown up in council housing, I have a deep appreciation of the difference governments can make to the lives of Australians,” he said. “Having seen what my Mum went through in her later years, I want to be able to make a difference for older Australians.” A single mother, Maryanne Albanese raised her son on...

There have been a number of distressing stories recently about aged care homes either in financial distress or even having closed. Some discussion has been around the impact of the new Aged Care Quality Standards which came into force in July last year, suggesting that meeting these imposes additional financial burdens which impact Aged Care Homes’ viability. Organisations may have needed to address staffing, to ramp up training or to contract outside assistance to bring their systems and processes into...

  HelloCare recently published the story of a 93-year-old woman with dementia who released a pop single that raced to the top of the music charts. The story was wildly popular with our readers, and we received hundreds of responses from readers all over the world. But one response stood out. Audrey Guy, 82, wrote to HelloCare complimenting us on our coverage of such a positive story about an older person, and requesting that we publish a story about an...

An 88-year-old school crossing guard died tragically this week while pushing two children out of the way of a speeding car. Bob Nill, who was affectionately known to the local community as “Mr. Bob” was killed while patrolling outside the Christ the King Catholic School in the US state of Kansas. Eyewitness accounts claim that Mr. Nill pushed the two boys back as they were crossing the road when he noticed a speeding car that seemed unaware of his red...

Regular readers of HelloCare Magazine will know that – as a longtime pro-ageing activist keen to destigmatise the word “old” – I have a big problem with phrases like “young at heart” and “70 years young”. And I’ve written critiquing both of these phrases, variously, in previous articles. So you can imagine that I was not happy to see the two of them used in one very recent email. It came from that Australian movie goers’ Mecca, the Palace Cinemas...

Three years ago I walked into a memory support facility in Gerringong NSW. I had recently moved to the area with my partner from Tasmania and had graduated with a degree in dementia from the University of Tasmania the year before. So I was eager to specialise in an area I had become passionate about over the past three years.  From the moment I stepped into the door, I was greeted by smiling faces, from the manager to staff...

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29HiTmi-4mc[/embed] This year, International Nurses Day coincided with Mother's Day. Nicky Hondros, a palliative care nurse shared her and her mum's heartfelt story and provided a little glimpse into what it's like caring for someone living with dementia....

  Danish photographer, Sophie Mathiassen, has been awarded the 2019 Bob and Diane Fund award for her profoundly moving body of work that captures her grandparents’ journey through dementia.  ‘But greatest is love’ is the story of Ms Mathiassen’s grandparents, from the time her grandfather was diagnosed with dementia and Parkinson’s disease, to how his wife stepped up to be his carer, and how she coped with slowly losing her life partner until, eventually, he passed away.  The...

  I worked in two aged care facilities in Tasmania as a kitchen hand, cleaner and also laundry. When I got the job I was over the moon. I loved the work, but loved the elderly more. I am not a fan of nursing homes, but with my compassion and love I thought I could make a difference in the end stage of life for someone’s mother or father. I was a casual mostly working between 10-12 shifts a fortnight...

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety is proposing major changes to the way aged care facilities are staffed in a bid to attract more workers to the sector and ensure staff are able to perform their jobs properly. Counsel assisting the royal commission, Peter Rozen QC, told the royal commission on Friday, “We submit that if the goal of this Royal Commission is to make recommendations to achieve high quality, safe and person-centred aged care services, as...

Virtual reality video games, activity monitors, and handheld computer devices can help people stand as well as walk, the largest trial worldwide into the effects of digital devices in rehabilitation has found.  Our participants used on average four different devices while in hospital and two different devices when at home. Fitbits were the most commonly used digital device but also tested on people in hospital and at home were a suite of devices like Xbox, Wii and iPads, making...