Many people get to a stage living at home by themselves that they need additional support to remain living at home, that help may include;

• home maintenance
• gardening
• cleaning
• food preparation
• cooking
• lawn mowing
• respite (if one is caring for their partner)
• helping with wounds/dressings (ie nursing)
• help with dressing/undressing
• help with showering
• transport to appointments

Most people would prefer to remain living at home than to move into residential aged care & there are services available that will allow you to remain living in your home with help & support.

There is Government subsidised help packages & there are also care at home packages that don’t attract Government support.

The best idea is find out how best to get the help & support you need to see if you can remain at home longer, before deciding to move into residential aged care.

We had one client (a fiercely independent 90 year old woman), who was determined to prove to her family that she didn’t need to move into an aged care facility, & in order to prove it did all the gardening, lawn mowing & minor home repairs & maintenance, as she was determined she did NOT want to go into aged care. However, the light bulb in the dining room needed replacing & rather than ask one of her sons to do it, decided she would get a chair, which she placed on the dining table, climbed onto another chair, then onto the dining table & then onto the chair (on top of the dining table) to change the light bulb herself.

She lost her balance & fell onto the chair, breaking just about every bone there was to break, consequently after a lengthy hospital stay, was told she could no longer go home & had to be placed in residential aged care (which was exactly what she was trying to avoid). If she had not been so proud to ask for help, she was eligible for a Government home care package, which would have paid for someone to do that sort of thing for her & she would still be at home.

Therefore IF YOU NEED SOME HELP- GET IT, the cost is probably less than the cost of moving into residential aged care