Western Australia has become the second state in Australia to make voluntary assisted dying (VAD) legal, after passing historic new laws in parliament on Tuesday. The heavily amended Bill makes Western Australia only the 19th jurisdiction in the world to support assisted dying. “The Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2019 has cleared its final hurdle in Western Australian parliament, making WA the second state in the nation after Victoria to pass a contemporary, compassionate and safe voluntary assisted dying law...

  The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety has been in Canberra this week, hearing about the adequacy of health care access for people in the aged care system, and looking at ways to improve the interfaces between the aged care and health care systems. On Monday, Rhonda McIntosh told the royal commission her father, Allan Sheldon, tried to tell staff he was having chest pains and thought he was having a heart attack. "He said 'I'm having...

  Aged care providers that fail to provide quality care should be fined, and residents who are neglected should be given compensation, a specialist aged care lawyer has said. Catherine Henry told the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, “It’s not sufficient to revoke accreditation only to have it re-conferred in a subsequent accreditation inspection, as this Commission has heard in evidence.” “The managers and boards of residential aged care facilities should be held personally accountable when...

Wearing my movie lover’s hat, I am delighted to report that – despite all that we read about Hollywood losing the plot over what makes a quality film – there are many producers who are still delivering the goods. And within just one week I’ve now seen four movies that I can highly recommend on their merit, and with the extra gloss of showcasing great acting by a clutch of great old actors.  Going backwards from the most recent...

Living forever may not be an option, but creating something that lives on after we die is a rapidly growing trend.  In 2015, cremations officially overtook burials as Australia’s most preferred method of being memorialised, but an urn sitting atop a family’s fireplace is not what everyone has in mind. British company And Vinyly is offering families the chance to commemorate their loved ones by having their ashes pressed into a vinyl record. The idea for the process began...

Pymble Turramurra Preschool youngsters are getting masterclasses every week in puzzles, art and bubble blowing as well as an understanding and appreciation of residents living with dementia. The visits are taking place every Thursday morning at HammondCare North Turramurra’s Princess Juliana Lodge, a residential care service for residents. [caption id="attachment_15530" align="alignleft" width="200"] HammondCare's intergenerational playdates. Image supplied.[/caption] Residential Manager North Turramurra Sarah Murphy said the intergenerational playdates were a win for both the children – up to 10 at...

  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 recently attended a Christmas party for the residents of a memory support unit where I work. The day was like any other Christmas party with a festive live music band, decorations on the walls and tables set for the special meal. The kitchen was a hive of activity, where food platters were being produced. For all intents and purposes, any outsider would perceive that this was a group of elders enjoying a Christmas gathering. All behaviours had ceased, residents...

When the original ‘Town Square’ opened its doors to visitors in August 2018, the reactions from senior attendees and their families was nothing short of inspiring. Those who passed through the doors of a generic beige warehouse located on Main Street in Chula Vista, found themselves entering the 9,000 square-foot working replica of a 1950’s suburb adorned with all the sights and sounds of their youth. Reminiscence therapy (often called time travel therapy) encourages people with dementia and age-related...

  A senior official from the Department of Health has disagreed with the royal commission’s assessment that GP services in aged care are at times not meeting the demands of residents. Counsel assisting the royal commission, Peter Gray QC, told federal secretary of the Department of Health, Glenys Beauchamp, about a survey of aged care facilities. The survey found 92 of 96 facilities had an ‘urgent’ or ‘immediate’ need for the services of a GP, in other words, a resident...

Aged care staff and organisations are faced with a number of challenges to providing consumer choice and control.  While delivering our Resident at the Centre of Care (RCC) Program, which trains staff to implement Consumer Directed Care (CDC), we learned much about the barriers to delivering CDC in residential aged care. Residents may fear being perceived as ‘difficult’ For staff it can be incredibly difficult to gather detail from residents about their preferences. Residents are often reluctant to voice...

  The aged care facility where Kate Davis’s mother lived was not equipped to cope with the resident’s death, the royal commission has heard. This week the royal commission is examining the interfaces between the health system and aged care system and access to specialist services, such as palliative care. Ms Davis told the royal commission her mother, Noeline Taylor, was a loving mother but developed chronic schizophrenia after the birth of her second child.  In August 2011, at...