Post by Flash on Jan 13, 2008 11:33:10 GMT -5
Call for elderly contact scheme to go national
A RED CROSS program that has been the difference between life and a lonely death for hundreds of elderly Australians should be used as a model by state and federal governments to halt the increasing number of older Australians dying alone at home, social welfare agencies say.
In the Telecross service, Red Cross volunteers each day phone 5000 elderly or incapacitated people who live alone. If they do not answer they phone a nominated family member or friend.
The scheme led to 500 "emergency activations" in Queensland last year, said a spokeswoman, Susie Chippendale. As a result, many people who had fallen and been immobilised were found.
In NSW, 1639 calls went unanswered in the six months to December, requiring follow-up phone calls to family members or emergency services. The figures reveal the difference regular contact can make for the increasing number of elderly people living alone.
Ms Chippendale said the Red Cross aimed to double the size of the service within three years. But the Council on the Ageing suggests going further and using the program as a model by state and federal governments, which have been criticised recently over unreported deaths in public housing. The council's executive director, Geoffrey Bird, said the Red Cross program and others like it could form the basis of a national strategy by state and federal governments.
The NSW Government's failure to fulfil its promise of a twice-a-year "care call" program showed the need for a national approach, he said.
But Dr Bird said the first thing that needed to happen was for Australians to revive a flagging sense of community.
"Older people tend to withdraw," he said. "They don't want to be a drain on society. That's the Australian way. We don't take them into our home in the way that some cultures do which is a bit of an indictment on us."
The issue resurfaced at the weekend after Kevin Jones, 73, was found dead in his Department of Housing bedsit in Artarmon. A neighbour, William Atkinson, said the tiny flats were "a terrible thing to do to old people".
The NSW Department of Housing, which last contacted Mr Jones in November, was criticised last week after Jorge Coloma, 64, was found dead in his flat in Yagoona, his body having been undiscovered for almost a year. The NSW Opposition said the Government had failed in its duty of care and reneged on a 2006 promise to contact tenants twice a year.
A Department of Housing spokesman could not say yesterday how many elderly public housing tenants were in bedsit accommodation or what percentage were housed in this way.
But he said bedsits, or studio apartments, were a popular form of accommodation in the private sector, and remained "a viable and comfortable housing solution for many [public housing] residents". Housing NSW had not built any new bedsits since the early 1980s, the spokesman said. But elderly applicants could wait for a home with a separate bedroom.
"Elderly residents can transfer out of bedsitting-style room units where their health or other medical circumstances require larger accommodation," he said.
For volunteers or family who want to join the program - www.redcross.org.au or local Red Cross offices.
A RED CROSS program that has been the difference between life and a lonely death for hundreds of elderly Australians should be used as a model by state and federal governments to halt the increasing number of older Australians dying alone at home, social welfare agencies say.
In the Telecross service, Red Cross volunteers each day phone 5000 elderly or incapacitated people who live alone. If they do not answer they phone a nominated family member or friend.
The scheme led to 500 "emergency activations" in Queensland last year, said a spokeswoman, Susie Chippendale. As a result, many people who had fallen and been immobilised were found.
In NSW, 1639 calls went unanswered in the six months to December, requiring follow-up phone calls to family members or emergency services. The figures reveal the difference regular contact can make for the increasing number of elderly people living alone.
Ms Chippendale said the Red Cross aimed to double the size of the service within three years. But the Council on the Ageing suggests going further and using the program as a model by state and federal governments, which have been criticised recently over unreported deaths in public housing. The council's executive director, Geoffrey Bird, said the Red Cross program and others like it could form the basis of a national strategy by state and federal governments.
The NSW Government's failure to fulfil its promise of a twice-a-year "care call" program showed the need for a national approach, he said.
But Dr Bird said the first thing that needed to happen was for Australians to revive a flagging sense of community.
"Older people tend to withdraw," he said. "They don't want to be a drain on society. That's the Australian way. We don't take them into our home in the way that some cultures do which is a bit of an indictment on us."
The issue resurfaced at the weekend after Kevin Jones, 73, was found dead in his Department of Housing bedsit in Artarmon. A neighbour, William Atkinson, said the tiny flats were "a terrible thing to do to old people".
The NSW Department of Housing, which last contacted Mr Jones in November, was criticised last week after Jorge Coloma, 64, was found dead in his flat in Yagoona, his body having been undiscovered for almost a year. The NSW Opposition said the Government had failed in its duty of care and reneged on a 2006 promise to contact tenants twice a year.
A Department of Housing spokesman could not say yesterday how many elderly public housing tenants were in bedsit accommodation or what percentage were housed in this way.
But he said bedsits, or studio apartments, were a popular form of accommodation in the private sector, and remained "a viable and comfortable housing solution for many [public housing] residents". Housing NSW had not built any new bedsits since the early 1980s, the spokesman said. But elderly applicants could wait for a home with a separate bedroom.
"Elderly residents can transfer out of bedsitting-style room units where their health or other medical circumstances require larger accommodation," he said.
For volunteers or family who want to join the program - www.redcross.org.au or local Red Cross offices.