NO Hostels For Ageing Baby Boomers?
An Eco-Alternative To Bottled Water
June 26, 2008Targeted Networking – Melbourne Mini Expo
July 1, 2008Having aged parents and in-laws the past few years have been an eye-opener for me with regard to institutional aged care. I definitely prefer the Italian idea of ‘Nonna’ sitting in the corner of a son or daughter’s home…if this is still the case!! I was so pleased to see the following InfoXchange report.
Aged Care Accommodation Revolution Required
“Australia’s baby boomers will revolt if large institutions are the only option available to them in 15-20 years time, according to international expert on aged accommodation, Dr Hans Becker.
Dr Becker pioneered a successful housing and care scheme for older people called Apartments for Life in Holland in the mid 1990s.
He says Dutch older people said no 15 years ago to old style nursing homes and hostels as the only alternatives for when they get to the age they want help to do the things they can’t do on their own.
He says that push-back was from people in their 70s and 80s, and some much younger, demanding they be able to go on living independently and stay part of their long time community when their health declined and they could no longer get around as they used to.
Dr Becker says the same will happen here in Australia.
Dr Becker is the Chair of the Humanitas Foundation which introduced and manages the Apartments for Life program in Rotterdam. He is a Professor of Humanising of Care at Utrecht University and an Instructor in Executive Education at Harvard University.
He is in Australia as a guest of The Benevolent Society.
The Federal and NSW governments have taken a keen interest in the Apartments for Life model as offering greater choice for older people and, importantly, the potential for considerable savings in the aged care budget.The Humanitas Foundation started its Apartments for Life program with 350 apartments in three complexes in 1995; it now has 13 complexes holding 1,700 apartments, covering some 2,550 residents.
Dr Becker says the Apartments for Life model includes carefully designed apartment complexes, lived in and partly run by independent older people, and offering services on a needs basis. These include medical, daily care, recreational, educational and social, up to and including nursing home type care.
He says the Apartments for Life philosophy has four basic values – autonomy, active participation, the yes culture, the extended family approach.
The Benevolent Society, described as Australia’s oldest charity, is planning to introduce Australia’s first Apartments for Life complex in Bondi. Forty per cent of the apartments will be dedicated to pensioners and low-income tenants.”
This is a philosophy I can relate to…
2 Comments
As a new Australian citizen I am amazed at the elderly I see in resthomes where I work as a mobile hairdresser, some of these poor souls have such a look offear in there eyes they dont know where they arehalf the time ,my best advice is try and keep fit and well and active so as not toneed to go there until the last bell tolls, it has been a real wake up call for me to see, and I endeover to try and make there lives a bit brighter by doing there hair each week, I honestly didnt know people lived so long as they are hidden away from society so this complex will be great in Bondai for those that can cope as long as we all try and have compassion for these dear souls who have paved the way for us all. Keep moving along Marie
I think the model is already started here where there are retirement villages with Hostel , Supported care options and Nursing homes all on the one grounds. The big issue for these developments to continue is the cost of land in inner suburbs areas making such developments viable to build and operate. The main advantage to having an all in one solution is for visiting people living in the complex. otherwise as they move from one section to another there are different staff getting to know them and Its not always the best to have an all in one solution business specialize in providing different solutions for various needs.