Aged care, young people & inclusion for LGBTQIA.
The aged care sector will often say they are inclusive of LGBTQ patients & resident’s, currently there are approximately 600 young people in Australia in aged care, all under the age of 65. Why are young people in aged care? There are not enough high care facilities or homes for young people. There are homes for those that can be somewhat independent, there are some for very high care, however not nearly enough, & not in the areas they may be needed.
Take Melbourne for example, a majority of the homes for those with severe impaired function is on the north side of Melbourne, or close to the city in the east. Most families want a maximum drive of 30 minutes to visit, in some instances families are being offered homes that take an hour or more. The NDIS is pressuring to achieve its goal of having no young people in aged care.
No young person wants to be in aged care, no family want to put their relative in aged care. However pressing families to move them, to a location that is not practical is not the solution. In regards to mental health, a person who already can no longer look after themselves, to add not having regular visits could be disastrous.
You may ask how do I know this? Why do I care? How does this affect me? Four years ago my wife suffered an acquired brain injury, she now is unable to do anything for herself. Including talking & is only able to move her thumbs, shoulders a small amount, & turn her neck very slowly. At the age of 38 she went into aged care.
I could not fathom this, I will eternally grateful for my parents in law going & looking through nursing homes. We were offered a spot in a home for young people, this was a 90 minute drive one way, it was not practical. I could have moved, if I was willing to uproot our daughter & cause further trauma for her. Now a 20 minute drive from home, it is practical for all. Thankfully the ndis are building a lot of new houses, hopefully she can move to one soon.
So, inclusion for LGBTQIA, in most information packs for aged care homes they generally have a one line statement saying they are inclusive of all. No further details given. There are many older gay couples who may look for a aged care residence.
Inclusive of all is a broad statement, it’s a statement that legally needs to be there, to ensure they are clear they do not discriminate.
Inclusive could be covering many different situations. Are they inclusive of high care needs & low care needs? Are they inclusive of different religions? Or are they referring to couples in care or singles?
When looking through the websites of many private aged care facilities, they have one or two lines saying they are inclusive of the uniqueness of each person.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, approximately 1.6% of the population openly identifies as LGBTQ. For a aged care home to state they are inclusive, the LGBTQ should be included in the statements how inclusive they are.
As society changes, can the aged care sector change with it? Maybe it’s time to make sure inclusion is discussed in the aged care sector.
