Showering and bathing is a personal experience, but many people will require help with this daily task as they grow older. Bathing is important for older people. It helps with personal hygiene and can be an important part of continence management and managing skin integrity. But bathing is also pleasurable, it makes people feel both refreshed and relaxed, and can greatly benefit a person’s sense of wellbeing. Home care workers can talk to clients who need assistance with bathing...

When hordes of selfish shoppers stripped supermarket shelves of essential items, Woolworths was the first major supermarket in Australia to try and prioritise their elderly and vulnerable customers with ‘elderly-only’ shopping times. This amazing initiative provided newfound hope to many older Australians who ventured out to shopping centers only to return empty-handed, and now, Woolworths is taking things one step further. Woolworths is now rolling out an $80 box of groceries called the ‘Basic box’ which can be ordered and...

Do staff need to wear Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) when providing aged care services to a suspected COVID-19 case who is awaiting test results? Aged care workers should wear appropriate PPE when they are providing care to suspected case/s of COVID-19 who are awaiting test results in the interim until their test results are confirmed negative (they do not have COVID-19). The appropriate PPE is known as contact and droplet precautions and requires a gown, surgical mask, eye protection and...

Much has been said about a mother’s love for her children and recent events in Germany are proof that this bond does not deteriorate with age. Just like Australia, German aged care facilities have been closed to visitors over the last two weeks to stop the spread of the coronavirus, but one elderly resident decided that a lockdown would not stop her from wishing her daughter a happy birthday in-person. The 101-year-old woman’s plan of escape started well enough, as...

Much has been said about protecting people living in nursing homes recently, but it appears as though some residents are more worried about everyone else. Rina Sartoretto, 86, was born in Italy and first started sewing at the tender age of 12-years-old. Mrs. Sartoretto’s skills with the needle and thread developed quickly, and before too long she has forged herself a career as a dressmaker. When the time came to move into a nursing home, she packed her sewing machine...

As millions of Australians settle in for another week of isolation, many of us are finding ourselves searching for new ways to relieve the monotony of staying at home. Excitement can come in a variety of different forms, but a growing number of Australian families have brought a new spark of life into their homes in the form of a fostered or adopted pet. Only 2 weeks ago, the RSPCA and a number of other animal re-homing organisations asked the...

One of the most distressing aspects of caring for someone living with dementia can be when they become highly selective about what they will eat or refuse to eat anything at all. Recently, a family from the English city of Liverpool faced a worrying dilemma when McDonald’s restaurants in the UK announced that they would be closing their stores, as their beloved grandmother refuses to eat anything but McDonald’s. Eva Gilland is an 89-year-old grandmother who is living with dementia...

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....

Australia’s health system has long been viewed as one of the best in the world, a reputation that is currently being cemented as it continues to adapt to the challenges of an ongoing pandemic. One of the key reasons for Australia having lower fatality and transmission rates than other infected countries stems from having a level of scalability that allows our healthcare providers to remain flexible. As the Morrison Government looks to upskill 20,000 existing nurses to help meet...

There are very few positives that can be taken from the global coronavirus pandemic, but at the very least, hardworking healthcare professionals and those that care for the vulnerable are finally getting recognition for their bravery and dedication. Times of crisis have a way of revealing people's true characters, and a recent story from the UK stands a prime example of the value of aged care staff and an incite into the amazing bonds that they can have with their...

Healthcare workers across the state of NSW are being advised to not wear their scrubs in public after several disturbing reports of staff being assaulted. Unfortunately, the physical and emotional abuse of healthcare workers has been on the increase in recent years, with hundreds of nurses and midwives being victimised by those in their care and their families while at work. But now it appears that some health care professionals are also being victimised in public. As healthcare workers struggle...