Longer-Term Support for Older People
Do you need longer-term support or perhaps just more assistance than our respite team can provide? Do you have health or mobility issues that make day-to-day home activities like cleaning, gardening or cooking difficult.
UnitingCare Community Options administers a range of longer-term programs to help address a range of different support needs. Details of each program are listed below. To jump directly to each section, please choose one of the following options: Aged Care Packages, Quick Response Program, Hospital Admission Risk Program, Housing Support for the Aged Program.
AGED CARE PACKAGES
Aged Care Packages are designed to help pay for the assistance you need to allow you to continue living in your own home. There are three types of Aged Care Packages funded by the Department of Health and Ageing. These are Community Aged Care Packages, Extended Aged Care at Home packages, and Extended Aged Care at Home Dementia packages.
Coordinating services for older participants with funding from these types of Aged Care Packages is one of our core activities at UnitingCare Community Options. Our partnership workers work closely with the older people they support to determine and put in place the care and home support people need. Our staff also discuss people’s interests and the activities they enjoy with a view to helping people continue these wherever possible.
For example a woman who has always prepared meals for herself and her family may continue to prepare meals at home with the assistance of a carer or volunteer who can help with some of the tasks that the woman struggles with on her own.
The funding for these packages is based on equivalent residential care and requires an assessment by an Aged Care Assessment Team. So for example you may be eligible for a Community Aged Care Package if the Assessment Team determines that you require a low level of support.
More information about the types of aged-care packages is listed below.
Community Aged Care Packages (CACP)
This package is targeted at frail older people who are aged 65 years and over, or aged 50 years and over for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It aims to help older members of the community who require services because of their complex care needs. Community Aged Care Packages are designed to support people who would otherwise be assessed as eligible for at least low level residential care.
Extended Aged Care at Home (EACH) packages
This package is targeted at frail older people who are aged 65 years and over, or 50 years and over for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It aims to help those with complex care needs who wish to remain living in their own home. Extended Aged Care at Home packages are designed to support people who would otherwise be assessed as eligible for at least high level residential care.
Extended Aged Care at Home - Dementia (EACH-D) packages
This package is targeted at people aged 65 years and over, or 50 years and over for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It is designed tp help people with dementia who experience behaviours of concern that affect their ability to live independently. People who are assessed and eligible for this package will have complex high care needs associated with their dementia, be eligible for high level residential care, have expressed a preference to live at home and be able to do so with the assistance of a package of care.
Visit the Department of Health and Ageing.
REDEFINING AGED-CARE
People at Centre Stage (PACS) Research Project
We are currently trialling a new approach to aged care services based around the Assisted-Independence Model of services. This project aims to demonstrate the viability of more flexible approach to service provision, which provides older people with a greater degree of choice and autonomy in deciding the support and assistance they receive at home.
Click here for more about Consumer-Directed Care
OTHER PROGRAMS FOR OLDER PEOPLE
In addition to the funded aged care packages we administer, UnitingCare Community Options also offers a number of programs of varying duration to help address particular issues older people may be experiencing or to provide support in times of crisis. Further information about each program is available below.
Quick Response (QRS) Program
If you’ve had an accident or are dealing with an illness and need assistance with home help or personal care, then the Quick Response Program can give you the support you need now. The type of assistance given depends on your particular circumstances and is delivered for between two and six weeks.
The program is available to people living in the local government areas of Boroondara, Manningham, Monash and Whitehorse. Eligibility is based on the same criteria as Home and Community Care services.
Click here for a copy of the QRS brochure
Hospital Admission Risk Program (HARP)
The Hospital Admission Risk Program is a flexible program aimed at reducing the risk of repeated hospital emergency department admissions for people living in the eastern region of Melbourne.
Examples of the types of people the program is aimed at helping include:
- People with chronic heart disease;
- People with chronic respiratory disease;
- Older people with complex needs; and
- People with complex psychosocial needs;
- People with complications as a result of diabetes
Staff from the Hospital Admission Risk Program will work with you, for a period of up to three months, to identify the issues that are leading to hospital admissions and to find ways of addressing these. Where possible our staff will try to find ways to connect you to community groups and resources in order to reduce dependence on formal paid supports.
Please contact us for more information
Housing Support for the Aged (HSA)
If you are over 50 years of age and are having issues with your public housing, the Housing Support for the Aged program may be able to help. The program seeks to improve the health and wellbeing of older people in public housing where issues such as frailty, mental illness, alcohol and substance abuse, or chronic health problems put the security of their housing at risk.
There are many reasons why your housing may be at risk, you may have ongoing issues with your neighbours, or you may have run into issues with the Department of Housing. This program is designed to intervene and help make sure that you continue to have a viable place to live.