Prepare to Care Module Summary

1. Prepare to Care

Topic 4 of 4

We’re here to help

It is normal to feel overwhelmed when preparing to care for someone. Don’t be afraid to ask for help or accept it when it is offered.

Select the headings for some resources to help you on your journey.

Planning, support and having the conversation

For support with planning, organising your toolkit, or preparing for a difficult conversation, call Carer Gateway. You can make an appointment with a Carer Coach who will listen to your challenges, help you to set goals, or help you to plan what you may need and what steps you can take.

Contact:

1800 422 737 (Press 1 at the menu), request a call back or fill out a referral form.

Additional resources:

VeryWellMind – This site has some great tips and examples of communication tools for challenging conversations like active listening, open questions, and starting a conversation.
Skills You Need – This site provides information on interpersonal skills and some great tips on listening or how conversations can go right or wrong.
We Need To Talk About Mum & Dad – A practical guide to parenting your parents.

Advocacy

For more information on Advocacy and the rights of older people check out the following sites:

Council on The Ageing’s Care Finder program is a free and friendly community service. They offer guidance through the Aged Care system for those experiencing challenges and have circumstances that make it difficult to navigate alone. The Care Finder team is there to work alongside you to access Aged Care and other support services. You can contact COTA’s Care Finder Service on 1800 518 048. Click on the link above to find out more.
My Aged Care is the first point of contact to get help at home. Contact My Aged Care from 8am-8 pm Mon-Fri and 10 am-2 pm Saturdays on 1800 200 422 or go to www.myagedcare.gov.au.
Older Persons Advocacy Network (OPAN) – this service is available Australia-wide supporting older people and their carers to exercise their aged care rights when either receiving services or looking for services. You can call them on 1800 700 600 or go to opan.org.au.
Advocacy Tasmania – this is an advocacy organisation that can listen to your elders and speak on their behalf or give them some tools for self-advocacy. You can call them on 1800 005 131 or go to advocacytasmania.org.au.
Statement of Rights – the Statement of Rights describes your elders’ rights as a user of government-funded aged care services. Go to the Resources section to see the full Statement.

Caring team

Caring is a team effort – remember the Village?

You can add more members to your care team by calling Carer Gateway on 1800 422 737 (press 1 at the menu) or get in touch on our website care2serve.com.au.

Carer Gateway can support you, the carer, with a range of services such as:

carer coaching and counselling
practical supports when you need help
retreats, educational workshops and events
connection to other carers
publications to help with planning
24/7 help in an emergency

If you need to allocate tasks to the Team there are apps such as www.gathermycrew.org.au which helps to fill the gap between people who need help and family or community who would like to provide help.

Wrap up

Select ‘Play’ to view Jean’s final words of wisdom for this module.

Read the video transcript

We hope you enjoyed the first module in our series Prepare to Care. Supporting your elders, navigating aged care, and being an advocate can be challenging for anyone. However, with the right information and the right support, you can help the people you care for with love and confidence.

It may seem like a mammoth task, but remember the old truism, “How do you eat an elephant?” A bite at a time. Good luck.

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