Opinion Piece - Time to Care for Aged Care
As a child, my grandmother and my great grandmother lived with us. They were ‘out the back’ in the battle-axe house behind my parents’ 1920s weatherboard home. My great grandmother “Rooke”, as she was affectionately known, and Grandma Pat who worked in admin at Charlie Gairdiner Hospital. For mum and dad, I am sure it was a pain at times. But four generations living together was an exciting experience for me and my younger brother Joey.
Rooke cared for me when I was little while my mum and dad worked as primary school teachers. She retired after decades of service with the Australian Tax Office in Perth in the building that is now the Duxton Hotel (and occasionally a coronavirus quarantine centre). She had been seconded to assist Australia’s efforts in World War II – her role was passing on the saddest of news that a family member would not be coming home. She was a proud Australian who enjoyed a humble retirement.
As the new millennium dawned, dementia started to appear, and rapidly worsen. Rooke worried the devil would get her. Leading her to give away much of her life savings to causes and churches that she felt would save her. She would confuse me with my dad. An experience which has confronted many who have experienced a loved one with dementia. The stress it put on my dad just trying to find a safe place in care as we could no longer manage ourselves. We were lucky to find a quality care centre within walking distance from home. She spent the last months of her life there. Just a few years later Grandma Pat was battling cancer. In and out of hospitals and a Silver Chain hospice. Grandma Pat died when I was in year 12. It was a rotten year. Nothing like the disruption of what this year’s year 12’s are going through - but I have huge empathy for the disruption during that once in a lifetime learning challenge.
I never got to properly thank those that looked after Grandma Pat and Rooke in their final years. I am sure Joey, mum and dad and I all said thank you. But it would have been fleeting. Now, the light in a dark crisis, is that as a nation over recent months Australians have been thanking our Aged Care workforce on a daily basis. We are saying thank you for their efforts to stop a pandemic. Subconsciously we are saying thank you for the day in the far future where it is us that needs help to wash, eat, swallow and go to the bathroom. It is a job where compassion is the driving force. But a compassionate workforce also means the industry doesn’t always get the government help it needs. Gratitude is important, but proper funding is critical.
2020 has shown us the Federal Government doesn’t truly care about the care economy. Be it childcare or aged care. They are both afterthoughts. Thank you isn’t enough from the government. We need to see policy action, and that is something only the Government can do. The truth is it is frustrating time for any opposition party right now. I have only been in parliament two years and the frustration of opposition can be paralysing. But perspective is the cure for political frustration. I think about those who some 20 years ago were caring for Rooke and Grandma Pat. How frustrated must they be? I bet they knew 20 years ago what needed to be done. I’m sure they haven’t seen the change needed. A sector that needs serious attention, a component minister, proper funding. I hope we don’t have an election fought on aged care failures. Because that means another year or more where the government fails to act.
Labor has put out the markers for starting to fix our aged care system. Minimum staffing levels. Cut the home care package waiting list. Transparency and accountability of funding. Public reporting and independent measurement. If the Government stole every one of these ideas you would not get a word of complaint from me. I’d even write a thank you note to Richard Colbeck (if he still has his job). So I take this opportunity to say a bigger thank you to all the aged care workers in my life and my electorate. I know now, the best way thank them properly by giving the funding and respect this workforce deserves. This piece was first published by The West Australian on Friday, 4 September 2020.