person arrives - late and apologetic.
She is much too young to be doing the job. Yes, she was very pleasant but someone in her early twenties can have absolutely no idea about what it means to be "old".
That quickly displays itself. She has a list of questions - given to her of course. The answers to these are supposed to decide what help, if any, the Senior Cat needs.
The Senior Cat looks at me and tells me to stay firmly in place. Apart from anything else he is having difficulty hearing her pleasant but rather high and quiet voice.
I want him to answer the questions, not me. Middle Cat has not yet arrived and I know she will take over and answer for him when she gets here. I will wait until he asks me to add something to his answers.
The questions were much too vague and open ended to elicit any real information. Yes, up to a point they need to be to do a "one size fits all" interview but I wonder who wrote them? Who trained this nice girl who is doing her best but not getting very far.
"Tell me about your health" is very broad. It might be better to ask "Are you on any medication?" and then "Do you manage your own medication?"
"Is anyone worrying you?" Does that mean are you worrying about them for some reason or are they making demands of you or....
It went on.
She described the sort of help that might be on offer. Most of it was irrelevant to the Senior Cat.
I could see this poor lass getting more confused. I could see her thinking, "Why am I here? They don't need any help."
Well yes, we do. Middle Cat had arrived. We looked at each other and then I said,
"We are hoping two things will come out of this."
The nice lass looks at me.
"The Senior Cat and I would both like some continuing help with showering. He's not safe on his own any more."
She nods.
"And I don't drive. If my sister isn't available we have to rely on taxis and I need to go with our father because it isn't safe for him to go alone. If there is occasional transport help available then we would appreciate being able to access it."
She nods again.
We have the cleaning issue sorted. Someone we like and trust comes in two hours once a fortnight and does the really heavy work better than I can do it. After all she is taller and much stronger than I am. Middle Cat thinks that she has got her two hours a fortnight gardening man to agree to help us as well. If that works out we'll be fine in that department. I do the shopping on the trusty tricycle and then cook our meals so the Senior Cat doesn't need "Meals on Wheels". He has a social support network, our wonderful neighbours, his friends at church, extended family and more.
I am sure this nice lass was very puzzled by all this. She must meet so many older people who do need extensive help and who are lonely and without help.
Nice lass phoned me later in the day to say that our provider of choice - the present people who have been helping on a temporary basis - cannot go on helping because they are only a "temporary" service. We go through list of potential help and discover only two of them have any funds.
Now we start all over again because the potential provider will send someone out - to "assess" the Senior Cat.
I am still hoping we will get the essential help with showering. I think I can cope with the rest.
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3 comments:
It is very difficult to get good help. Partly because of what your post indicates. A one size fits all mentality. I am part of a group caring for a longterm friend with Alzheimers and dementia. He has no family to help at all.The drug Aricept has slowed down the progress of dementia, but things will get worse. Inevitable. At the moment he is like your dad, fiercely independent, but becoming increasingingly unable to cope. Physically he is fine, but mentally not. I am in NSW and we have found the Benevolent Society very good. Some comapnionship for him on a weekly visit. Some help in the house. Some unobtrusive oversight of him and some checking fridge contents etc, food in the house as well. Before we set this up and his diagnosis, we found that there was much to throw out. Year old eggs which had totally dried inside shells. Help will come when needed but he does not need help with showering yet. He sees geriatrician for the dementia and they recommended further help. The woman from MYAGED CARE site was actually quite good in understanding problems and working the answers to get the help she could see was needed.
The district nurse used to get my dad up and washed as mum could not physically do this. My husband’s grandmother also had district nurse to help here. Are you able to use a plastic chair in the shower while you investigate further help? Very hard on both sufferer and on family. I hope you can get the help needed.
It worries me that the quality of services offered will depend on the quality of individual assessors and interviewers like the lass you described. They either get it or they don't. They need to have the background knowledge and experience to anticipate your needs and the initiative to make suggestions or see potential issues or ways to support you that you may not have recognised.
For people new to the system, asking them what they need or what kind of support they would like to have, doesn't always work if they don't know what is out there. How do you know what to ask for if you don't know what to ask for? This is an experience of friends with a child newly diagnosed with autism.
I wish you well with your care planning. I am dreading the changeover to the NDIS. I feel like our futures are at the mercy of a lottery.
I like Jodiebodie's comment about the NDIS and the similarity to a lottery!
On a different note a family member gets cleaning help, but has to provide a vacuum cleaner. The cleaners have wrecked three vacuum cleaners in the last twelve months.
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