Description

Dad had four strokes in 2017, his last year with us. He developed delirium after each stroke. Dad did not recover so well after the fourth stroke and his needs were high. We discuss what that looked like for us from a caring role, and what aged care programs we were able to access to support us to bring Dad home from hospital.

Our priority was Dad's quality of life. We were in the very fortunate position of having strong family support and some extra money that allowed us to meet Dad's care needs at home.

In this episode:

• Dad’s high care needs after his fourth stroke
• Dad had to regain enough function to be able to come home
• Advocating for Dad when he was unable to speak
• Staying with Dad at the hospital
• How we prepared for Dad’s discharge
• Why we didn’t want Dad to go to an aged care facility
• Transition Care Program (TCP) and how we used it to get Dad home
• High care needs don’t always mean moving someone to a residential aged care facility
• Caring for a loved one with high needs at home can be difficult but if a family wants to do this, they should be supported to do so
• Prioritising Dad’s quality of life
• We paid for a private carer and did as much as we could ourselves to help meet Dad’s needs as his package funding wasn’t enough

Resources mentioned:

• Let’s Talk Consultation

Related episodes:

• Episode 25 – Dad’s diagnosis of dementia
• Episode 27 – After Dad’s diagnosis of dementia

Connect with Coral Wilkinson: 

• Instagram 
• LinkedIn 

Follow See Me Aged Care Navigators:

• See Me ACN website
• Facebook
• Instagram

More about Your Aged Care Compass podcast: 

Do you support an older loved one at home and you're ready to give up because it’s just too hard? Your Aged Care Compass is for you.

We're Coral and Michelle, the sisters behind our business, See Me Aged Care Navigators.

Coral is a registered nurse with over 30 years’ experience in both health and aged care. A former assessor with the aged care assessment team, an advocate and author, there’s not much Coral doesn’t know about Australia’s aged care system.

Michelle is a former pharmacist with over 30 years in the public health and private sectors of pharmacy. Michelle is the client care manager for our business. 

Our story started as one of supporting our parents to remain in their own home, to be as independent as possible and remain connected to their community. When we eventually needed extra support, we achieved this because we know Australia’s aged care system so well. We knew what programs could assist us and our parents.

Your Aged Care Compass podcast brings together not only our personal experience in supporting our parents but also our vast professional experience in supporting other families...