A GROUP of Flinders residents have banded together to put pressure on the Mornington Peninsula Shire to better service the elderly in the community.
“It all came about after we conducted a survey of the elderly, and heard about their lived experiences and key issues,” said a spokesperson for the group, Sandy Grant. “What became clear to us is that many services exist for the elderly, but there is a lack of knowledge about them, and lack of capacity to go through the complex maze of information to find them. “We are wanting to work with the shire to facilitate better access to the already existing services to enable people to live independently in their homes for longer.”
Grant said his group had been in touch with members of the federal government who acknowledged the services exist and are available, but the issue of a disconnect in information provision remained. “We think the shire are well-equipped to provide this information, and the great thing is, it is not an expensive exercise. The service provision is by the federal government. We just need the shire’s help in effectively utilising the existing services,” said Grant.
The group have meet with the shire to work through the issues they see as readily resolvable. “We were encouraged to see a common understanding of the problems for older community members, and a desire to work with the community and the federal government authorities to resolve them.” “We even brought a number of specific issues to the shire, and they acted to resolve these issues, indicating a practical willingness to help.”
Grant emphasised a need to educate people on what was available well before they need the service. “Many people don’t start to look at what’s available until they are beyond the point of needing it,” said Grant. “Much of this is due to the complexity of the system. People who are competent with technology still struggle with the portals to help with aged care issues.
“We believe the shire are best placed to keep elderly people engaged with the community to defer the need for expensive intervention in the first place. “They can prolong the time that the elderly can stay independent in their home by facilitating access to existing services including home care, rather than it getting all too much for the elderly person, resulting in them abandoning independent living.”
The group point out that other local governments have better embraced care of the elderly, operate in a more proactive way, and see the need on the peninsula as even greater than other areas. They point out another issue that faces the elderly is the lack of affordable housing available.
“It sounds like an issue that wouldn’t greatly impact the elderly of the area, but it is a part of the fundamental challenge we face,” said Grant. “The peninsula has a huge and fast-growing population of elderly that do, or will, need care. But due to the lack of affordable housing, there is a lack of people able to provide that care.
“We believe the shire needs to push harder for its fair share of government revenue that is set to be collected from the peninsula,” said Grant, referring to the imminent state government short-stay levy (Push for short-stay tax revenue to stay on peninsula, The News 1/10/24).
“Let’s start the conversations. Let’s work through the problems. Let’s do better at planning ahead,” said Grant.
The group are planning to set up a community meeting in the new year where federal and state bureaucrats, and other experts will speak to community members about what services are available and how to access them.
First published in the Mornington News – 3 December 2024
