Jubilee Community Care client Joy had 100 reasons to smile on May 3 when she marked her 100th birthday.
Joy celebrated the special occasion during an afternoon with her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and friends at Corinda Bowls Club.
“I had a lovely family gathering in which nearly all of my family could be there,” Joy said. “I really had the most enjoyable birthday.”
Joy was born in Ipswich and married her husband Edwin after World War II. Together they had three children. Joy now resides at Taringa Parkside Retirement Living where she also celebrated her birthday with friends during a dinner party the village hosted.
“I am very comfortable and happy here,” Joy said. “My garden gives me great pleasure. I also appreciate the help Jubilee has given over these past few years.”
Jubilee Community Care is continually recruiting more support workers. Our aim always is to train our new staff to the highest possible standard.
When a new support worker joins the Jubilee team, they spend a day learning about the organisation’s culture and values, policies, procedures, manual handling, infection control and much more! The day gives our new staff an understanding of Jubilee’s expectations of high standards of service delivery and support for our clients.
Staff who are new to Jubilee also undergo buddy shifts. This provides them with the chance to accompany and work alongside our experienced support workers as they visit clients’ homes for services. The hands-on supervised approach has proved invaluable and is an extension of the induction process before a new support worker visits clients on their own.
We very much appreciate clients allowing our new team members to accompany experienced support workers for a buddy shift. Our clients who do participate find this does not disrupt the service and some clients welcome the opportunity to be involved in the teaching. Please keep in mind that when a new staff member is on a buddy shift, they will be ‘shadowing’ the experienced staff member and will not be able to perform separate or additional tasks.
Typically, once a new support worker has completed several buddy shifts they will be ready to start work on their own. This, coupled with regular meetings to provide guidance and support, helps ensure a great start for our newest team members. All of our support workers who have undertaken buddy shifts have found them invaluable.
We understand that not every client will want to be part of the buddy shift process or that some who have previously taken part might change their minds. If this is how you feel please do not hesitate to contact the office on 3871 3220 so that we can note on your records that you do not wish to take part.
Thank you to our clients and their families, employees and volunteers for your messages of support to our office staff for their wonderful work. It is appreciated.
The recruitment of personnel across all departments of Jubilee Community Care has been one of the many priorities during the past several months.
I am extremely pleased to inform you of key appointments including Sharon Forbes (RN) as our Manager for Care Services and Mardy Abeydeera as our Finance Manager. Sharon and Mardy have been joined by new employees in Client Support Coordination, Human Resources and Scheduling. We continue to search to fill the vacant role of Human Resource Manager.
Whilst we have recruited new support workers we are still continuing our search for additional ones.
I would like to acknowledge the tremendous effort of all employees and volunteers at Jubilee who over the past few months have recruited and trained new employees; scheduled services with limited human resources during the recruitment process; brought client billing, budgets and monthly statements up to date; and our wonderful support workers who have provided the highest quality of services to clients. Are we there yet? No, but we are moving in a positive direction and can promise that all employees and volunteers are working together to ensure we meet the needs of Jubilee clients. Thank you to all of our clients and families for your continued support and patience during this process.
Community aged care service providers are facing a continual challenge of ensuring services commence at the scheduled time. There are many issues that challenge the ability of service providers to meet the scheduled start time of a service such as staff shortage, staff sickness/absence, increased traffic congestion and roadworks, and unexpected service challenges that may be encountered by a support worker. I am aware of a move by some service providers to offer a “service window” of a three-hour period during which time a service will commence. Instead, Jubilee Community Care has always asked for and worked with a tolerance of 30+ minutes i.e. in the circumstance of a service commencing more than 30 minutes after the scheduled time our administration staff will telephone and inform the client. There are exceptions in that we will prioritise services that are time critical such as transport services to medical appointments.
Incontinence – it’s not an issue most of us like to talk about but the fact is nearly one in four people aged 85 and over experience severe incontinence.
In the younger age bracket about one in every 14 people aged 65 and over experience it – both the faecal and urinary types.
If you experience accidental or involuntary loss of urine or faeces, however small, it is nothing to be ashamed of and you can seek help.
Some people are at greater risk of developing incontinence because of existing medical conditions including diabetes, chronic heart failure, dementia, Parkinson’s, stroke and mental health.
The Continence Foundation of Australia website offers a wide variety of information about bladder, bowel and pelvic floor health, tips for preventing and managing incontinence, advice for carers and information about support schemes and financial schemes that are available from both the Federal and State governments.
If you need help an appointment with your doctor is a good starting point. Or Jubilee can refer you to a continence service which can undertake an assessment. To prepare for a consultation, write down as much information as possible to help you describe the problem. For example, your symptoms; how often they occur; specific times of the day or night; activities such as exercise, laughing or coughing that seem to bring them on; food or drinks that cause or worsen your symptoms; and a list of your current medications.
There is financial help to offset the costs of continence products such as pads and pants, bed pads, bed sheets and chair pads, and catheters. Jubilee can assist with this. For clients on the Commonwealth Home Support Program your coordinator will organise the Government’s Medical Aids Subsidy Scheme to help offset the costs of purchasing the continence aids. Clients on Home Care Packages can use their package funds to pay for aids with their coordinators ordering the aids on their behalf.
To find out more about incontinence phone your Jubilee Community Care coordinator or visit the Continence Foundation of Australia website at www.continence.org.au. Alternatively, you can phone the National Continence Helpline on 1800 330 066 from 8am-8pm Mondays to Fridays.
Are you considering giving up driving or face the prospect your driving days are over? There is support to help you plan for your driving retirement.
The University of Queensland School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, in partnership with UQ Healthy Living, run a free driving cessation program called CarFreeMe.
The six-week program has been designed to help people plan for eventual driving retirement and is suitable for people still driving, contemplating stopping, or who have recently stopped. CarFreeMe has been designed using evidence-based methods to help older adults and people with health conditions stop driving without limiting their life and freedom.
On completion of the workshop, participants exit with a personalised CarFreeMe Plan, giving them the confidence to take their first steps toward doing what they love, car free.
Other positive outcomes from the program include improved wellbeing, improved ability to negotiate public transportation and, most importantly, improved satisfaction with continuity of life goals and social engagement.
CarFreeMe is facilitated by a qualified/registered occupational therapist and supported by occupational therapy students studying at The University of Queensland.
A new program will commence in the second half of this year although a date is yet to be confirmed. Each of the six two-hour sessions will be at UQ Healthy Living in Toowong.
If you are interested, please contact UQ Healthy Living on 3443 2586 or email uqhealthyliving@uq.edu.au
