Abstracts
Morning plenary
Yes You Can Can
Beatriz Occhiuzzi, Salsa For Seniors
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Hold on to your chairs and enjoy the ride as we become Can Can dancers in Paris! Beatriz Occhiuzzi will share a fun and interactive seated dance from Salsa For Seniors' program for those with limited mobility.
FROM RESEARCH TO PRACTICE - Measuring Outcomes in Community Aged Care
Why do we measure outcomes?
Prof Michael Fine
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The abolition of block funding for the CHSP and its integration with the HCP has been announced, postponed and rescheduled a number of times but remains part of the government’s current reform agenda. With the Royal Commission into Aged Care Safety and Quality due to bring down its final report in November this year, Professor Fine argues that there is a need to take action to defend and extend CHSP services, to support the extension of block funding and direct access to services as a form of primary aged and disability care.
Existing data, however, fails to capture or demonstrate the real success of CHSP services in supporting people to remain in their own homes. Measures of success and performance that can be used to demonstrate the success of services are vital. This presentation will also introduce the principles behind the development of a simple, practical measure of outcomes – the Australian Community Care Outcome Measure (ACCOM).
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The Uses of the ACCOM tool - measuring and monitoring outcomes
Dr Beatriz Cardona
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This presentation will analyse some of the findings from the ACCOM Tool with NASSA and other community organisations. It will look at ways in which the data collected through ACCOM can be used for needs identification and analysis, care review and care planning and for staff professional development and consumer directed care. The presentation will also highlight some of the challenges in measuring quality of life outcomes and future directions for outcome measurement.
A Service Provider's Experience Measuring Outcomes Using the ACCOM Tool - Pilot Study
Melinda Paterson
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The member organisations of NSW Neighbour Aid and Support Association (NASSA) provide Social Support services in the Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP), which are fundamentality aimed at maintaining an individual’s wellness and participation in the life they choose. NASSA is trialling ACCOM in two sites – metro and rural – and is eager to share what they have been learning.
11:15 AM Concurrent Sessions
Research and policy
Ensuring high quality services and good jobs in home care and support for older people: what can we learn from research?
Professor Gabrielle Meagher, Macquarie University
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When researchers ask older people what they think makes good home care and support services, their answers emphasise positive relationships with the care workers who assist them, and flexibility, time and the opportunity to maintain their own priorities in daily life. When researchers ask paid care workers what they think enables them to offer good home care and support services, their answers mirror those of older people, and point to a strong connection between the quality of services on one hand, and the quality of jobs on the other. This presentation shares the findings of a recent survey of home care and support workers, and explores what we can learn from research to meet the challenges and take up opportunities for ensuring both high quality services and good jobs in the sector into the future.
​5 Generations in the Workplace
Ann Mehaffey, Aged and Community Services Australia
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5 Generations in the Workplace looks at the challenges in the demographic the shift which now sees five generations represented in the aged-care workforce. The presentation will look at each generation different work and life balances plus motivations that shape their attitudes, behaviours and beliefs. Organisations that can manage different generations working together will benefit from working with the strengths of each generation and mitigate shortcomings.
(ACSA is the national peak body supporting not-for-profit, charitable, church and for purpose providers of community, home, retirement living and residential care for older Australians).
Future
Who Said Older People Won't Use Technology??
Christine Ellis and Peter Rath, MidCoast Assist
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The session outlines the processes and lessons learned to date from a project being implemented on the Mid North Coast which assists older people, many of them over 80 years old, to use communications technology to improve their sense of social connectedness and reduce isolation. The project features the use of younger people as ‘technology buddies’ to provide support and coaching to the participants, as well as providing assistance to the participants in their identification and choice of technology. In addition, clients were invited to a technology showcase whereby organisations presented the latest devices, not only mainstream but also devices to assist with hearing or visual impairments. Training is offered to the ‘technology buddies’ to assist them in their coaching role. The project is also being evaluated by Charles Sturt University with a pre and post questionnaire to assess the degree of social connectedness
Digital inclusion of seniors through co-designed service
Richard Scenna, YourLink
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The Digital Paradox for Seniors report debunks the myth that seniors are digitally shy. Hear about how seniors’ desire for digital inclusion is outpacing service provider and community response. They want to be active participants in the modern world and are eager to learn what they can do to be part of it.
Current support networks don’t nurture the independence seniors crave and they are frustrated by the assumptions made about them. We’ll share what they have told us and demonstrate real examples and practical opportunities for how this can be addressed by providers leading to improved wellbeing for clients.
Digital inclusion is a critical part of daily life now with more life activities only accessible online. This was brought to life most recently with the bush fires, where anxious seniors without digital competence had to rely on radio broadcasts to inform them about evacuations and locations of fires that could have impacted family and friends.
YourLink offers social learning experiences for seniors and have consistently found our seniors to be curious and engaged. Seniors are ready, willing and able, it’s up to service providers and the community to meet that need.
Quality
Wellness and reablement, we can't do it alone
Allison Yee-Brogan, Inner West Neighbour Aid
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Inner West Neighbour Aid is a small to medium size not for profit, primarily funded to deliver social support individual, social support group and home maintenance under the Commonwealth Home Support Programme. How do small to medium size organisations continue to be innovative, relevant and financially viable with limited resources and funding? In an era where the fundraising dollar is competitive and government funding is uncertain beyond 2022, Inner West Neighbour Aid’s successful wellness and reablement programs are a result of its strong partnership approach and volunteer model. In this presentation, discussion begins with why partnerships matter, how to partner for success, key criteria for developing partnerships and strengthening existing partnerships. The presentation then shares current examples of long standing partnerships and their impact on client outcomes, including joint programs with a local council, primary schools and high schools, a local gym, the RSPCA, volunteers and clients.
Co-designing social support for people with experience of homelessness
Mischa Gwaspari, Newtown Neighbourhood Centre
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At Newtown Neighbourhood Centre we have continued to provide support to older people who are experiencing homelessness within the Inner West of Sydney through our CHSP Individual Social Support service. Many of the individuals we work with through this programme are very wary of services who profess they are there to ‘help’ and also associate My Aged Care with losing their independence and being forced into an aged care facility. Through a community grant we were able to trial the use of volunteers with lived experience of homelessness and/or living in boarding houses to be trained as mentors and provide a weekly drop in service for anyone that wanted information on local services from a user’s perspective as well as tips for what might assist them further. We will present on the outcomes of this pilot and how the volunteers have since been utilised within our Individual Social Support Service.
Connection
​Stories of Connection
A panel co-presentation from consumers, volunteers and staff from Canterbury City Community Centre
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We believe that the best way to demonstrate the impact that our services have on our consumers’ lives is to hear it from them. We have invited some of our consumers to present at the session, as well as volunteers, staff and partners who are all closely involved in service delivery and who will give their own perspective.
The activities at our Centre are designed to facilitate social interaction and connection to the community and we do this by supporting consumers to participate in social groups, go on outings, learn new dance steps, enjoy their gardens, sing together, get moving in an exercise group, enjoy healthy meals, play games, knit, chat, laugh and more!
You will hear from a panel on their experiences of being part of our Social Inclusion and Wellness Program and have the opportunity to ask questions.
Walking The Journey Together
Susanne Morton & Sharon Scott
Carers ACT
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Carers ACT is a not-for-profit organisation and the peak body for carers in the ACT. Our purpose is to support, connect and empower carers to maintain their caring role and personal wellbeing.
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The “Walking the Journey Together” program is an innovative program that enables carers and people who are frail aged to attend a wellbeing retreat together as respite for the carer and an opportunity for both to build social connections and enhance wellbeing. Supporting the frail aged through planned respite services allows carers to take a break from their caring duties. The program is flexibly designed to enable Carers and the cared for person to attend separate programmed activities designed to meet their differing needs. With the assistance of experienced staff to provide high-quality care, carers and the person they care for can safely participate in the program.
1:15 PM Concurrent Sessions
Research and policy
Social Interaction and Innovation in Community Aged Care: Achieving Person-Centred Quality Care
Dr Joyce Siette, Australian Institute of Health Innovation
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Interpersonal relationships are at the heart of our communities and are important in older adulthood. Current community aged care services have a strong focus on increasing social interaction and wellbeing among older adults that are at risk of social isolation. This presentation will outline a program of research that highlights the important role of community aged care in supporting social connections. The presentation will (i) showcase a stakeholder-driven study using simple tools to support discussions about social participation and wellbeing in a large and diverse group of older adults accessing community-based care; (ii) discuss new evidence that participating in meaningful activities through an innovative social support program can promote older adults’ wellbeing; and (iii) examine the relationship between social network types and its role in maintaining older adults’ memory function. Our research suggests that providing supportive social connections in older adulthood can foster important interactions that enrich individuals’ lives.
Future
Studies of the social impact of community transport
Ben Whitehorn, Randwick Waverley Community Transport
Bethany Langford, The Community Transport Company, Chair of the Community Transport Organisation NSW
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Social Return on Investment is a framework for measuring and accounting for the social and economic costs and benefits of an organisation. In general KPIs are output related measures, but what about measuring Impact?
Community Transport providers and recipients understand that the value of a “trip” is often much more than the tangible benefit of getting from A to B, but how much more? Our presentation will examine two evaluative models, which attempt to quantify the social and economic impacts derived from two Community Transport Services. One a Regional service and one a Metropolitan Service.
Supporting older adults in decision-making and care planning in the home care setting
Dr Craig Sinclair, UNSW Ageing Futures Institute
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Contemporary rights-based approaches promote the importance of enabling older adults to maintain involvement in decisions about their lives, across health, lifestyle and financial domains. The onset of age-related disability triggers the need for a range of decisions, and can also impact on the cognitive and functional abilities underpinning a person’s ‘decision-making capacity’. Supported decision-making has been defined as “the process whereby a person with a disability is enabled to make and communicate decisions with respect to personal or legal matters” (UNOHCHR, 2009). This presentation summarises the findings and practical resources from a project investigating supported decision-making in the context of dementia. Supported decision-making is broadly endorsed by people living with dementia, their family members and professionals involved in providing care, within a discourse of ‘maintaining involvement’. A range of practical, regulatory and interpersonal barriers have been identified, along with strategies and resources to assist in overcoming these. The presentation concludes by discussing some areas of innovation in the field and specific applications to decision-making and care planning in the home care setting.
Quality
Wellness for Independence - a holistic approach to social connection for older people
Emily Newman, integratedliving Australia
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In 2019 integratedliving was granted Specialised Support Services Commonwealth funding to provide Wellness services to rural and remote communities in the Northern Territory spanning across 3 regions – Alice Springs, East Arnhem and Barkly, including Titjikala and Nhulunbuy. With this funding integratedliving was able to mobilise a specialised team of clinicians consisting of nurses, podiatrists, dietitians and occupational therapists along with a highly regarded Chef to deliver our Diabetes and Vision Wellness programs. These programs aimed to build health literacy, facilitate timely diagnosis, enable early intervention and empower self-management.
Titjikala’s welcome sign has the saying “Many voices, one dream, building a quality desert lifestyle”. We believe that to be true of the work completed by Integratedliving in these remote NT communities. Adapting program content by liaising with local community members to ensure material was relevant and culturally appropriate and delivered in a flexible manner to engage and empower members of the community to improve their own health literacy and that of their community through the sharing of knowledge.
Reducing social isolation among older people through intergenerational programs
Kenny Lau, Chinese Australian Services Society
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In 2018 CASS Care supported a research project by Griffith University to explore the benefits of intergenerational programs between the seniors and children in childcare centres. We were one of the centres where the seniors and young kids were organised to have activities together. These activities were run for an hour every week consecutively for 16 weeks. According to the final research report, which was released in early 2020, the program had a positive impact on their (senior people) health and well-being; the program sparked enjoyment and improved mood, and gave them a sense of purpose, all of which may contribute to delaying the cognitive decline. We also observed that during the research program, strong bonding was developed between the 2 generations. The seniors had great motivation to interact with the young kids, and there was improvement in the well-being and happiness of all participants in the activities.”
Connection
Elders Olympics - social connection and wellness in culture
Gai Maiherne, Aged and Community Services Australia
The Elders Olympics is a local cultural event that supports positive ageing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people receiving CHSP supports from five local Aboriginal groups in South East Sydney and Sydney Regions. Aboriginal Elders engage in sporting activities which improve their wellbeing and promote a healthier lifestyle.
The Elders Olympics provides opportunities for engagement in a social activity and develop ongoing social networks beyond the event. It also builds a collaboration with Aboriginal CHSP service providers, local councils from five LGA’s, NCIE, health organisations, Aboriginal Medical Services, and volunteers, which come together to build the event.
Many relationships and networks are built on this event. It forms many other great working collaborations among the networks. Come along and see how you can be involved.
2:15 PM Concurrent Sessions
Research into practice
Infotainment: A Tool For Engagement and Education
Margaret Crothers, Seniors Rights Service
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The aim of the day is to engage as many older people in the community as possible by bringing them together for a day of games and information. The message that we aim to get across is about supporting older people's rights. We devised games and contests which will be asking the participants to check their knowledge of and preparedness to cope with any events or incident which may be impinging on their rights. We handed out a take home bag of information about where the participants can go locally to get help if they experience any form of abuse of their rights.
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Fostering Innovation in Wellness and Reablement
Ada Cheng, Australian Nursing Home Foundation
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A Room to the World is about enabling the experience of travel for older people, allowing them to explore the world in a comfortable and safe environment. Through the use of visual and audio technology, clients will be taken to different parts of the world to experience new cultures through tactile, sensory and olfactory experiences. Exposure to foreign arts through crafts, music and dance will enrich their lives on a regular basis.
Speak Your Language Mobile Care Watch -Older people can access call assistance and monitoring services via a care watch. This will be connected to aged care providers who speak their language 24/7. Wearing the care watch will empower a sense of independence, confidence and safety, enabling our seniors to live longer at home and in the community. Built in affordable smart technologies allow personal voice to voice communication, GPS monitoring, Blood pressure & heart rate and fall tracking etc.
Future
Emergency preparedness toolkit for at risk older people
Louise Sutcliffe, Meals on Wheels NSW
Melanie Rebane, NSW Office of Emergency Management
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ACT! brings key emergency and MOW services together to strengthen the emergency preparedness of vulnerable older community members. A toolkit and resources have been developed and piloted in six sites across NSW (covering coastal, inland, regional and city areas), focussing on an all hazards approach. We are also in the process of developing an App for easy access to the toolkit.
Our project empowers older people to make decisions about preparing for emergencies by building on their knowledge of local risks, talking about emergency preparedness, providing practical information and linking in appropriate supports, when required. It also provides online training resources for Commonwealth Home Support Program (CHSP) providers and other community support services to use when implementing the toolkit.
Providing the evidence base: the role of carers in the CHSP
Melissa Docker and Wendy Hill, Carers NSW
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While carer supports are currently undergoing significant reform, aged care services will still play a large role in meeting the needs of those caring for a person who is ageing or frail. The flexibility of CHSP funding provides opportunities to develop innovative supports that meet the needs of both consumers and their carers. However, the Carers NSW 2018 Carer Survey found that under half of respondents caring for someone who was accessing aged care services reported being asked about their own needs as a carer. To maintain caring relationships and maximise the health and wellbeing of carers and their care recipients, it is important that carer needs are identified, considered and addressed in the development of services and supports. The upcoming Carers NSW 2020 Carer Survey, will assist with the identification of emerging service gaps that could possibly be addressed in the future by innovative CHSP services. Additionally, findings from the Carers NSW Carer and Consumer Coaching Project (3CP), funded through a CHSP innovation grant, will provide further insights for developing a best practice model for carer inclusive service provision.
Quality
“Now I’m not afraid of getting older!”: Transformation in the lives of CALD clients through CHSP support
A co-presentation by consumers and Shikha Chowdhary, Ethnic Community Services Cooperative
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The work that organisations such as Ethnic Community Services Cooperative (ECSC) are undertaking is allowing transformations to take place in the lives of those of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds. In this presentation, you will hear directly from senior CALD clients about the ways in which their lives have changed for the better through participation in the CHSP support programs that ECSC provides, including having access to activities that are relevant to them, culturally appropriate and change as their needs change. The organisation will share the many strategies learned during the 40 years of 2-way learning with these senior CALD clients and the evidence that shows the level of change that has been taking place in their lives. ECSC will present the case for ensuring that the complexity of these kinds of services remains intact in order that the future of these clients is not just safeguarded but bright.
The impact of inclusion for older LGBTI people
Heath Reed, National LGBTI Health Alliance
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Using examples from the LGBTI Community Visitors Scheme(s) we will look at the significant impacts that inclusive services have on older LGBTI people’s wellbeing. Although there is not CHSP targeted funding for LGBTI specific services there is still a huge scope for providers to increase their capability and cultural competency to better support LGBTI people. You don’t have to be exclusively a LGBTI service, to provide inclusive care.
Being inclusive is now a legislated requirement as outlined in the new Aged Care Quality Standards and providers must be able to demonstrate that “each consumer is treated with dignity and respect, with their identity, culture and diversity valued; care and services are culturally safe…” We will take a quick look at some of the key items in the Standards specific to diversity, touch on a few entry points to inclusive care and introduce the Aged Care Diversity Framework to support service providers in this work.
Connection
Teaching Older Guys New Dishes!
Miranda Charlwood and Courtney Nelson, Gateway Health
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Although studies are limited, the prevalence of malnutrition in older Australians living in the community is thought to be in excess of 10-30%. Prevention and treatment options tend to lean heavily toward blanket interventions such as meal provision and shopping delivery. Yet given the opportunity, many older people have the desire and capacity to learn and develop food management skills, enabling a greater degree of choice, control and autonomy and less dependence on services. Using a wellness approach, Dietitians at Gateway Health offer a capacity building, cooking program to older men who have lost, no longer live with or find themselves needing to care for a partner or parent who traditionally completed shopping and cooking tasks. While skill development and improvements in nutrition have been the main outcome, the social engagement and peer support afforded by this group model has also had positive implications on community connectedness and mental health.
Community conversations exploring the concept of wellness
Debra Pugh, New England Sector Support Team (NESST)
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Since August 2018, New England Sector Support Team has partnered with local aged care service providers, and hosted community conversations about wellness in nine townships in northern NSW. A total of 288 people have taken part in the workshops to date. We have used participatory approaches and led conversations to explore the concept of wellness. Each community is different, but each event resulted in older people, family members, community care staff and volunteers coming together and developing a shared understanding of wellness. We were able to harvest a wealth of useful data but the takeaway message was that the approach to wellness is best defined by the individual.