Patty Kikos interviews Marg Cruthers who tells us about the wonderful free assistance that Seniors Rights Services provides for older people through advocacy and legal advice. They assist people who are either disadvantaged or vulnerable, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, culturally and linguistically diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer or other, or are in regional, rural or in remote locations. This episode is a cracker as Marg shares a story of how they helped someone experiencing financial elder abuse, and is a must listen! GUEST: Marg Cruthers - https://seniorsrightsservice.org.au/ SOCIAL MEDIA: Follow Patty on Instagram Follow The Benevolent Society on Instagram Follow Carer Gateway on Facebook Follow The Benevolent Society on Facebook CREDITS: Host – Patty Kikos Producers – Patty Kikos and John Hresc Sound Engineer – John Hresc GET IN TOUCH: Carer Gateway is proud to offer emotional and practical services and support for carers with the aim of making your life easier. You can call us on 1800 422 737 to find out more about peer support groups, counselling, coaching, online skills courses, tailored support packages, emergency respite, other government supports, as well as tips and information, or visit our online home at www.carergateway.gov.au Got some questions or thoughts for Patty or the team? Email us at cgconnections@benevolent.org.au and put ‘Attention Patty’ in the subject line. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The Benevolent Society acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
Patty Kikos interviews Marg Cruthers who tells us about the wonderful free assistance that Seniors Rights Services provides for older people through advocacy and legal advice. They assist people who are either disadvantaged or vulnerable, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, culturally and linguistically diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer or other, or are in regional, rural or in remote locations. This episode is a cracker as Marg shares a story of how they helped someone experiencing financial elder abuse, and is a must listen!
GUEST:
Marg Cruthers - https://seniorsrightsservice.org.au/
SOCIAL MEDIA:
Follow Patty on Instagram
Follow The Benevolent Society on Instagram
Follow Carer Gateway on Facebook
Follow The Benevolent Society on Facebook
CREDITS:
Host – Patty Kikos
Producers – Patty Kikos and John Hresc
Sound Engineer – John Hresc
GET IN TOUCH:
Carer Gateway is proud to offer emotional and practical services and support for carers with the aim of making your life easier.
You can call us on 1800 422 737 to find out more about peer support groups, counselling, coaching, online skills courses, tailored support packages, emergency respite, other government supports, as well as tips and information, or visit our online home at www.carergateway.gov.au
Got some questions or thoughts for Patty or the team? Email us at cgconnections@benevolent.org.au and put ‘Attention Patty’ in the subject line.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:
The Benevolent Society acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
Marg
We had one chap who went into a residential aged care home, and he just didn't want to shower.
Actually, this could have been my father because he was the same. Yeah, he'd say, so I don't work anymore, so I don't need to shower every day.
And with my father, the manager just said, of course, Les, you don't have to shower every day. And that was fine now because he was told he didn’t have to every day. They came and said "les, it’s time for the shower.” And then he went, you know, because he had that choice. And choice is really important, right?
Patty
It's empowering to know that you can choose, of course.
Marg
Yeah, but this other gentleman was a little bit more recalcitrant than my dad, and he wouldn't shower at all. And so, his son came in one day and he said, “look, my dad is used to dressing up on a Friday to go into town to do the shopping, which is traditional in country areas.” So he said, “let's just say every Friday we say to him, come on, Jack. It's time to go into town. You've got to go and do the shopping, and your son's gonna meet you for a coffee.”
And that's what they did. So, every Friday he had a shower. And he got all dressed up, and then his son came and picked him up, and they went for a coffee. And so that's a very simple solution.
Patty
It seems simple, but it's not because it means that there were a lot of moving parts to that. It means that staff had to be briefed. It means that everyone had to be on the same page. It had to be listed as part of his routine. It's not just a simple thing. It's quite an important thing.
Marg
Yeah, exactly.
----
Billy:
From the Carer Gateway at the Benevolent Society, we welcome you to, Carer Conversations with your host Patty Kikos.
The Care Gateway is the Australian Government national care hub and provides reliable services, support and advice especially for carers.
This podcast is where we share interviews with guests that have specialized knowledge to help support carers to look after their emotional, mental and physical well-being.
We are recording on Aboriginal country, on lands which were never ceded. We acknowledge the traditional custodians and cultural knowledge holders of these lands and waters. We pay our respects to Aboriginal elders, past and present.
Always was, always will be.
---
Patty
Seniors Rights Service provide targeted rights-based information online and in print to a diverse range of older people regardless of cultural background or sexual orientation. Their advocates, solicitors and education staff travel across the state to hold information sessions.
Seniors Rights Service offers free legal advice on many legal issues to older people in NSW (and each state and territory’s counterpart), as well as a comprehensive referral service. They offer general legal advice, as well as advice on retirement villages and strata living.
They also provide information and advocacy support to people using, or seeking to access, in-home and residential aged care services. Their aged care advocates are located across the state to provide support for recipients of all Commonwealth funded aged care services.
Today we get to chat to Margaret Crothers, the Senior Advisor, for Advocacy about her role and the service this organisation provides.
Marg, you live on the south coast, and you graciously allowed me to bully you into coming into the studio to record this podcast today. Tell us a little about your life?
Marg
OK. Well, I grew up on a farm in the Riverina in the southwest of NSW. It was a great place to grow up as it was an outdoor life. Not too much strenuous housework or anything like that. Working on the farm with my dad really enjoyed it, but I ended up coming to Sydney for education. I trained as a teacher and I've spent 20 years teaching.
Patty
What sort of experience did you have with your teaching?
Marg
Well, I I taught in high schools, I taught ancient and modern history, and I genuinely had a love for history and I was certainly influenced by excellent teachers and continue that love of history. Now. I also taught English in a variety of schools around the state on the far north coast, down to the the city and in between.
Patty
And were you ever a head teacher as well? Were you ever.
Marg
No, I always avoided that. That was too much responsibility! {both laugh}
Patty
What was the instigator that got you interested in seniors rights?
Marg
Both my parents ended up in residential aged care and I really admired the work that the aged care people (the carers) did and the organisations that the care that my parents received. It was very, very personal I suppose, because it was a small country town, you know the the carers knew my parents and my parents knew the carers and so you had that personal touch.
But unfortunately for me, I don't have a nursing bone in my body, and so I did realise that I had the skills because of my teaching background to be an advocate and so when I saw the position I applied for it and got it, many years ago now.
One of the most important parts of my role as an advocate is informing recipients of care and their carers about the rights of older people who receive aged care and then helping them to uphold those rights.
Patty
Marg, do you have any siblings?
Marg
I do. I'm one of 5.
Patty
Where do you fit in?
Marg
I'm number 4. As I said earlier, my parents were farmers, and in those days, you needed a son to hand the farm on to. So, we had 4 daughters. First, I was number 4 and then to the joy of my parents, our brother arrived. So, all was well in the world, yes.
Patty
He’s number 5. So, when your parents went into their nursing home, did you find that it was helpful to have your brother and sisters helping you?
Marg
Ohh, definitely because my parents encouraged us all to to do as well as we could at school to train in whatever career we wanted to train in. And to get tertiary education, they felt that was really important. And and so we all ended up doing tertiary education, but we all ended up all over the country.
So, we had one in Brisbane, one in Tamworth. I was in Sydney and my brother lived fairly close to the family. And then another sister in Ballarat. So, we were all over the place. So, it was really important that we coordinated and shared visiting my parents just to check and see that they were OK and support my dad.
My mum went into care 1st. And then and so my dad needed that extra support. He was very lonely.
But we're also very lucky because the aged care home that he went into, they kept an eye on him. And so, they saw that he was losing weight because he wasn't a good cook, mum was the cook, right? And so, they said, do you mind if we give your dad lunch every day when he comes to visit your mum?
And it was beautiful. And they gave him a 3course meal and he insisted on paying for it. So, they charged him $5. But it was. It just made all the difference. And so, we knew when we couldn't be there that the aged care home were keeping an eye on him.
Patty
That's really beautiful.
Marg
And the local town people did as well. Because you know, he would go to various cafes and they'd say “ohh if we don't see your dad,” because he was a routine person. “So, if we don't see your dad on a certain day, we'll let you know”. Because just in case. So yeah. It’s that that small community that looks after each other, which is really important.
Patty
It's wonderful. We miss that in the city. We get lost in the throes of people in the city don’t we?
Marg
For sure, yeah.
Patty
Did your mum end up developing dementia?
Marg
Yes, she was 80. And my grandmother did as well. So, it makes me a little bit nervous as I approach 80...
Patty
You're a while away from 80. I just want our listeners to know. {both giggle}
Marg
But yeah, it did come as a shock to us. We just thought she was turning into a grumpy old lady, and she had never been that before. She had always been very friendly and very affable and cared for everyone else. She was a great carer, and then we suddenly realised the impact it was having on their lives, you know, they've been married for 60 odd years.
Suddenly they became withdrawn, socially withdrawn, and we realised it was because, number one, my mum didn't want to go anywhere because she was frightened to travel and number 2, my dad was a little bit embarrassed because people that my mum had seen before and had talked to (and my mum was a teacher and she, you know, she taught half the town), and they would come up and say hello to her, and she just looked at them blankly. And I knew my dad was embarrassed about that, and he wasn't quite sure how to handle it. So, we saw them slowly withdraw socially and that that was a concern for us.
Even though all of us were tertiary educated, we had no experience of dementia. Before that, we knew of our grandmother but yeah that was sort of a vague thing and that in in our minds there was just something that happened to old people but when you see it happening to your mother. And we had to do a lot of research and try and understand what dementia was. And we actually kept on saying, why isn't there more information out there? Everyone should have information like this. So This is why podcasts like this are excellent. Because people can refer to them and say ohh, that's normal. That's happening to m e, and it's happened to other people and there is help out there so. So, thank you for doing this. It's great.
Patty
Ohh, you're so welcome. I mean, I know that you've worked for Senior Rights Service for 17 years and in that time, I imagine you would have witnessed a huge number of changes that have occurred while you've been in the industry. Are there some key ones that you might like to share with us today?
Marg
Yeah, look, there has been legislative changes you know, the Aged Care Act, which sort of formalised how Aged Care was presented right across Australia.
Patty
Can you share what that is, what the Aged Care Act? Is when it came to, yeah.
Marg
It came about because they realised there was no real regulation of Aged Care and so the the original Aged Care Act sort of looked at more of the regulation of the aged care providers and we're just in the process of reviewing the Aged Care Act again because of the Royal Commission, and it's going to be a consumer based act.
In the current act, the consumers are sort of part of the principle. Bills, quality care, et cetera and the new act is going to be aimed solely at the aged care recipient and that way, everything is directed towards the quality of care and the care that's needed by the people who are the recipients of care.
The Royal Commission has sort of been probably a real catalyst for us. It looked at where, where the gaps were. It looked at where changes change were needed and it slowly being implemented. And from my point of view one of the most important aspects of the Royal Commission, it relates basically to the job I do, which is access to advocates. So not only for the recipients of care but for their carers or their representatives.
So, everyone has the right to have someone to speak on their behalf, and this is where we come in. So we listen to people's concerns, but we help people to speak for themselves as well. So, carers can ring us and they say, look, I've got this concern, I've got this question I needed answered and we can support carers who are representing the older person, if the older person has dementia.
But really what the royal Commission did was just really boosted the funding for the national aged care advocacy program, which we're part of, and so that that has meant we've probably tripled our staff. And we certainly enhanced our reach to regional areas. So just because you don't live in Sydney doesn't mean you can't access our advocates. We've got advocates spread all around the state, but you can give us a call. We've got a central phone number, and you can get to speak to an advocate straight away. So, that's important.
Patty
So, the royal Commission came about because of the amount of complaints that had been generated?
Marg
It was a combination of that, yes, yes.
Patty
Yeah, that's why it's so important. OK, so I know you've told us a little bit about what Senior Right Service does. Can you give us a definition in a nutshell?
Marg
So basically, in one line we provide free, and that's important, confidential, and that's important and we're independent as well, and that's important.
So, we have to ensure all of those. There's no charge for our services, and we are totally confidential, and we do not do anything unless you actually give us permission to do it and we are independent.
So, we are funded to be independent, and we don't support the providers. We are totally on the side of the consumer or their representatives. And so basically if you come to us with a concern or a question, we'll either give you information, support, or an appropriate referral. And by support, we can be your voice.
Sometimes people just get tired of making a complaint and feeling, not listened to, and so just having us to represent them is often just a great relief for someone to talk on their behalf. And if you look at our logo, it does say “your voice” on it, “your rights, your voice”, and that's a very important part of our work.
Patty
It's a great tagline. What are the different ways that carers can be supported by Senior Rights Service? And actually, I think it's also important to know that every state and territory has its own corresponding agency as well, don't they?
Marg
Yes, yes, yes, a number of years ago, we were all independent services within each state. And we had different funding, you know, bodies et cetera, et cetera, but we're all under the National Aged Care Advocacy program and then we got together and formed the Older Persons Advocacy Network. So that's our overarching body.
Patty
Ohh, that's what open stands for, OK?
Marg
Yes, that’s right! And so basically the funding comes to OPAN and then it distributes the funding to all the individual states, but we're all now part of that network. We train our staff so there's consistency across all states. Our data is collected consistently across all states. And so that's important because we feed that data back to the the department and they learn from the complaints and the concerns.
So that's why it's important that people do call us because we listen to your concerns. We understand what the situation is. We can explain why maybe something's not happening because it's not in the regulations. It's not an obligation. So if it's an unrealistic expectation we can actually say, “well, look, you can't ask for that because it's not within the remit of the fund”.
But if we say look “ohh, that's wrong, that's not good, that's not right”. We can help people. And at the moment we've got an advertising campaign which is “there is someone you can call”. So, if you've got a question we you know we will listen to your concerns we'll explain what we can do. We'll help you if you. Want us to and where possible, we'll help you to get results.
Patty
What are some examples of the kind of work that advocates have done on behalf of consumers?
Marg
Look, from the very simplest of things to quite complex cases and you know, maybe I'll give you some examples. We had one chap who went into a residential aged care home, and he just didn't want to shower.
Actually, this could have been my father because he was the same. Yeah, he'd say, so I don't work anymore, so I don't need to shower every day.
And with my father, the manager just said, of course, Les, you don't have to shower every day. And that was fine now because he was told he didn’t have to every day. They came and said "les, it’s time for the shower.” And then he went, you know, because he had that choice. And choice is really important, right?
Patty
It's empowering to know that you can choose, of course.
Marg
Yeah, but this other gentleman was a little bit more recalcitrant than my dad, and he wouldn't shower at all. And so, his son came in one day and he said, “look, my dad is used to dressing up on a Friday to go into town to do the shopping, which is traditional in country areas.” So he said, “let's just say every Friday we say to him, come on, Jack. It's time to go into town. You've got to go and do the shopping, and your son's gonna meet you for a coffee.”
And that's what they did. So, every Friday he had a shower. And he got all dressed up, and then his son came and picked him up, and they went for a coffee. And so that's a very simple solution.
Patty
It seems simple, but it's not because it means that there were a lot of moving parts to that. It means that staff had to be briefed. It means that everyone had to be on the same page. It had to be listed as part of his routine. It's not just a simple thing. It's quite an important thing.
Marg
Yeah, exactly. You know, and that's a really important thing that you've raised is that we work with the aged care providers to get a solution. So, we're on your side, but we'd like to work with the provider so that everyone's on on the same page.
Another quite amusing example was I had a fellow; I call everyone Jack. So, Jack rang me, and he said he said, “they're not letting me drink beer are they allowed to stop me drinking beer?” And I said “well actually that's not normal a lot of homes have happy hour and so on and so forth” I said, “there could be a good medical reason why, or a religious reason, are you in a home that you know that it's non alcoholic?”
“Ohh no. No other people allowed to drink”. And I said, “well, what about medication? If you're on some medication, then you know the staff have a duty of care to make sure that you don't have alcohol because it could, you know, work against your medication”. “Ohh no, no. Don't take any tablets”. So, I said, “well, it's unusual, would you like me to talk to the manager?”
And that's an important part of our work that we do ask permission to speak on their behalf. So, I rang the manager, and she gave a bit of a laugh. And she said, “we've got a men shed here at our aged care home. And the men have started brewing beer. And she said that's not a problem, she said, but the problem is. Jack, he's going down after breakfast and he's getting stuck into the beer, and by lunchtime he's rotten and he was coming back to the home, and he was being abusive to the staff and he was being abusive to the other residents”. So, she said “I haven't stopped him drinking. All I've done is said at 4pm when the other gentleman go down to have a drink before dinner, he used only to go down then”
So, I got back to Jack. He wasn't very happy. I think he thought I was just gonna tell the manager. You let Jack drink as much as he wants. But I think the other gentleman were quite happy as well because Jack Jack was drinking all their profits. But yeah, so once again, that's working with someone who didn't quite understand the rules and regulations, didn't understand that his rights weren't just for him, they were for other people, as were other people in the home as well. And so, you know, we a compromise was reached.
So that's another example, but I'll give you a good example of the complex work that we do and this was a lady in an aged care home who was very, very anti-social. She was very aggressive to staff, very abusive to staff. You know, severe foul language being used at staff would not come out and associate with any of the other residents or join in with any of the activities and the manager of the home was very concerned about this lady and contacted one of our advocates, and I think it was actually the the daughter of the lady.
And the lady rang out our advocate and said, “look, you know, my mum has got a whole lot of issues, you know, do you think you can actually go and have a chat to her about, you know, what, what she can do and can't do etcetera, etcetera and what her obligations are as well as her rights”. So, the advocate went along and she spent a fair amount of time on the phone and talking to this lady, and then finally. She came up with the idea of getting her, getting this lady something she could care for, so they thought, how about we get her an animal?
Patty
You mean like a puppy?
Marg
Yeah. And they actually got her a bird because the puppy was a bit too boisterous. And so you know they, they got this bird for her, and it was a little parrot thing that it would stay, and it had its own cage, but it would come out and it would just talk to this lady chirp away. Slowly but surely the staff would come in to see if the bird was alright or clean the cage and the lady let the the staff come in and then the staff came in to see the bird and they started chatting to the lady.
And it went from her being isolated and aggressive to allowing them to take her outside and sit in the sun. She would never go outside before she was able to take her parrot with her in in its cage, so it wouldn't fly away. But in the room the parrot was out, and slowly she just changed. She realised she'd made friendships with some of the staff and what it came down to was she'd been isolated and alone all her life, and she had forgotten how to interact with other people.
But this little tiny bird was the catalyst for changing her whole outlook, changing the way the staff dealt with her and the way she dealt with staff. And it's been a major breakthrough. It takes careful understanding of someone's issues, working with the aged care provider, coming up with an innovative solution, and it was a win-win for everyone. So that that's a that was a major victory. We're very proud of that one.
Patty
That's a beautiful story, isn't it? Yeah. Are some of your advocates also fluent in other languages?
Marg
Yes, we do. We do have a couple of advocates who do speak other languages. They either migrated here, or their parents migrated here and they learnt the original language. But we also have access to translating services.
Patty
And interpreting services?
Marg
Yes
Patty
That's important for many of our carers to know.
Marg
Yeah. So, anyone that wants to speak to an advocate in their first language, they only have to ask and we will organise that translator for them or interpreter for them.
Patty
That's good to know. Can you explain what the main differences are between the advocacy and the legal services that you offer? I think it would be important for our carers.
Marg
For sure. For sure. Yeah. Look, the the legal service has very specific areas that they work in. The advocacy is very straightforward, it's aged care advocacy. So, some people who are used to disability advocates who help with banking and, you know, lifestyle things. Our aged care advocates, we support all the callers and their representatives just about issues relating to aged care or accessing aged care, so we're very, very specific in that.
I had a lady once who rang me up and said there's a tree down in my backyard. “Can you send someone out to fix it?” I said look, I'm sorry. “That's outside of our remit.” She wasn't really happy with me. But it had nothing to do with age care. But she said, “"but I'm old and I've got rights, you know.”
Patty
Oh bless. “But I can give you a council number”.
Marg
Yes, exactly. And that's exactly what I did. Yeah. So, we have to be very careful to stick to our funding remit, but our legal service is the same, they have to stick with their funding remit. We do not do criminal law, so don't go out and rob a bank and expect us to get you off.
Patty
I was just about to ask for an example! So don't kill anyone, don’t rob a bank!
Marg
{both giggle} Yes, exactly. Stay very, very, you know, law abiding in many ways. But certainly legal advice about elder abuse or suspected elder abuse or planning ahead. We also have retirement village and strata living not advocates.. umm legal people, solicitors, I think they're called!
{both giggle} struggling for the word there, but that whole idea of a broad range of legal concerns. And look, the best thing you do if you're not sure, call our number and ask. “Look, I've got this legal issue. Can you help me?” and I'll tell you once again, our legal advice is free and we're a community legal centre.
We have limited resources of course, but you know if we can take you on, we will. If we're overwhelmed, we might say, look, it'll be a couple of weeks before you can get an appointment to speak to one of our solicitors. But you know we've got people who answer the phones who will give you that information and then make an appointment if we can help you.
Patty
Some of the examples of legal issues that your solicitors can assist with you, you mentioned financial abuse. What are some other things?
Marg
Well, any planning ahead, people often..
Patty
So, things like inheritance, wills is that what you mean?
Marg
Yeah, they give advice on wills and Power of Attorney, and Enduring Guardianship, there's a lot of misinformation out there.
Especially relating to the people who do have the power of attorney and who are the enduring guardian. Some of them think ohh it's my right to take over, you know, and I make all the decisions and the number of times we hear people say, “well, I'm your Enduring Guardian, I can put you in an aged care home.” That is not right. You only get placed in an aged care home if you need that level of care. You know, if you can no longer care for yourself safely in your own home, but no one can put you in an aged care home because they want to get rid of you.
Patty
It's like the equivalent of a child being naughty and a parent saying I'll send you to boarding school.
Marg
Yes, yes and so, but the the other important thing is supported decision making, in that the older person, if they've got the capacity, has the right to speak for themselves and the solicitors will determine that sometimes people will ring up and say, well, can your mum speak for herself? Ohh yeah, but I'm her Power of Attorney. No, no. We need to speak to your mum to hear what she wants. Not what you want for her. And that's really important.
Patty
Yeah, it's. That's right, because the Power of Attorney and the Enduring Guardian is in the event that they can't advocate for themselves. Yes, when they still can, they still have their legal right.
Marg
Ohh definitely yes. And that's really important to us as well that we're speaking to the older person, not someone who you know is speaking on their behalf. If that older person has the ability to do that, and even if someone speaks on their behalf we go. “Is this what your mum would want or is this what your dad would want?”
Patty
Yeah. Great questions. Ohh, I'm so glad you're sharing this. Do you also deal with issues like forged documents?
Marg
Ohh yes, we the Guardianship and Power of Attorney issues are often, you know, as I said before, it's people stepping in before they should. But there's also that whole concept, and this is fraud, basically.
Patty
Yes, categorically.
Marg
Yeah. And we and this is where aged staff care staff are really important. Sometimes they see things and they're not too sure what to do about it so.
Patty
Ohh, so even aged care staff could potentially call your service?
Marg
Yes, they can refer an older person to us, and they often do. They go, oh, this is a legal issue. I can't help you, but I know someone who can. I know an organisation that can, and they help them to call us. And yeah, look, we had one example where a lady called us that was on Christmas Eve.
And she said, “I've just got this notice from the bank and my house has been taken over, repossessed. And they said I haven't paid my mortgage. But I paid my mortgage off years ago.”
So, our solicitor literally ran up to Downing St to get a stay on all the proceedings. I have this mental picture of this guy in a suit running up the hill because you know, our office isn't far from there. And anyhow after investigation it turns out her nephew had found the documents. Whatever it is that you have with the bank contracts, etc. in the grandmother's draw, taken out a remortgage on her house, unbeknownst to her, forged her signature on the documents and had borrowed $450,000 and had made no repayments.
And when our solicitor spoke to the bank and said, “How can you this doesn't even look like her signature!” The answer was, “old, old people, they're signatures change, you know.”
Patty
True, but that's why you have to be hyper vigilant.
Marg
Yeah, but we said to the bank, “how can you let someone remortgage a home without even consulting the person who owns the home? She should have been in the room too!” I heard the solicitor talking to the the grandson later on.
And I heard him say, “Son, you are a scoundrel!” And I thought, “Ohh I could think of probably worse things to say”. {both giggle} And that was very reserved. Yeah, that's a really good example of the sort of work that our solicitors can do.
Patty
I understand there’s a pilot program that’s going on at the moment, can you tell us a little bit about the Home Care Check In Program?
Marg
Yeah, sure. It's just a pilot program. It's running in WA, SA and NSW and in NSW, it's only in the Hunter and New England area but it's working with care finders in the sense that you know, people who are isolated, don't have family support. So, the care finders will help them get the care they need and the home care check in will continue that support once they've got the care services in place. So, checking in on them, ringing them regularly, making sure that it's really an extension of the advocacy work and is it making sure that they've got connections with the right people.
So, it's almost like standing carers, you know, if you've got no one, if you're an isolated person and lots of older people are, they don't have family for whatever reason or the family they disconnected from their family. But they need that that care beyond what the aged care providers are funded to provide and so that's what the home care check in program.
Patty
That's amazing that you've identified that gap in the market because that role is a little bit of a hybrid of a carer and a case manager.
Marg
Yes, yes, exactly. And we find that basically the feedback we're getting at the moment from aged care providers from the home care from the care. Working with the Home Care Check In, they say this is just beautiful. It's really improved the communication between all 3 and they're working together and the beneficiary is the older person.
Patty
Absolutely. They won't fall through the cracks. I've got one more question before I reward you with your rapid fire wrap up questions. Does the advocacy you do help laws change? I feel like it does, but I'd love you to embellish on that.
Marg
Yeah. Look, we do provide quarterly reports to OPAN who, as I said earlier, is our overarching body. And they use that data, and they report that data to the department. So, it's key issues that come to us. Important issues that arise that maybe had not come forward before when there's law changes, whether everyone or regulation changes, whether everyone is complying with it. But probably the most important thing is because we're free and independent, we've got no barrow to push other than the rights of older people, and the issues that older people bring to us.
So we're constantly feeding through OPAN, we feed up to OPAN, OPAN then feeds into the department. These are the key issues in Aged Care. And so, then the department knows well, actually we probably should be looking at that and addressing those issues, so that our advocacy service is individual advocacy. So we actually advocate for the individual, but our data that we collect over a 12 month period becomes systemic advocacy, which then is presented to the department.
Patty
So, by raising issues we help manage change really as a collective.
Marg
Ohh definitely definitely. And we say that all the time - don't keep quiet about it. Don't say, “Ohh well, I'll just put up with it.” Because if you raise it and 20 other people raise it then then it becomes a problem, yes.
Patty
And it becomes systemic and that's how laws get changed.
Marg
Yes. And so yeah, collectively you can make change.
Patty
Oh, I love this. Now, before we come to a close, I need to ask you a few questions. What's your favourite body part and why?
Marg
Well, I'd have to say my mouth because I love food, so I love eating and I love. Trying all sorts of different cuisines, etc, etc. So yes, without my mouth, I think I'd be very, very bored, yeah.
Patty
Your mouth and your taste buds and your belly.
Marg
It's true. Oh, yes. Well, that's unfortunate. That's where it all goes. I wish it. Didn't go there. But you know.
Patty
Hey, it shows you're happy and healthy. Do you correct other people's grammar?
Marg
Being an old English teacher it’s so tempting..
Patty
I know that's exactly what I'm asking.
Marg
It's a bit tempting, but only when it's important. You know if if one of my staff is writing an email, I run my eye over it and I see a problem, I will correct it, but I I don't, you know, talking to someone. I don't go. Oh, well, now we use the wrong conjunction there, you know? So it's only when it's important.
Patty
Likewise, especially when someone isn't a native English speaker, I definitely don't correct them unless it's really, really dire, because I just think I can't speak a word in your native language. How dare I correct you when you're doing so well? What is the best non curse one word in word?
Marg
As a result of being a little bit older myself, calling someone “dear” is a real put down {giggles} “Ohh, that's a real problem, isn't it dear?”
Patty
I guess it's about your delivery, isn't it? Yeah. Because if it came from your grandma, it would be really endearing. Would you rather fly, or would you rather have super strength?
Marg
Yes, exactly, exactly. Ohh, I think I'd rather fly because you can get around if you're strong. It doesn't matter where you are, you're just strong. But if you can fly, you could see the world.
Patty
This is true. This is true. What has been your favourite age so far?
Marg
I think my years before I started school and my early school years, you were young, you were innocent. You didn't know a lot about the world's problems. Life was good.
Patty
You were carefree.
Marg
Yeah.
Patty
Well, this brings us to the end of this fabulous interview my lovely carers and listeners. If Marg's episode about the Senior Rights Service inspired you, we will share those website details in the show notes.
I'd be so grateful if you took the time to like, subscribe or give us a 5-star rating as we want to make sure that we get to the carers who need to hear our messages the most.
Senior Rights Service is a community organisation dedicated to protecting and advancing the rights of older people, particularly vulnerable and disadvantaged groups. The needs of some groups in our community can often go unmet by mainstream services, therefore, Senior Rights Services prioritizes, (which means they ensure that they are inclusive), by assisting people who are either disadvantaged or vulnerable, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, culturally and linguistically diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer or other, or are in regional, rural or remote locations.
This organisation values diversity and welcomes all older people across the state and regardless of race, disability or religion, regardless of sexual orientation or nationality, gender or marital status, they play an active role in tailoring their services to meet the needs of diverse communities.
Until we meet again, take good care of yourself.
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Billy:
If you are caring for a relative or a friend who has a disability, a mental health condition, a life limiting health or medical condition.
Or they are frail because they're getting older. Please contact us at Carer Gateway on 1800 422 737, or look us up on www.carergateway.gov.au
And if you are a carer, you're allowed to take time to look after yourself. You are just as important as the person you take care of.