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Have you taken advantage of the Queensland Government’s Seniors Cards? There are several types of cards for people aged 65 or older.

The basic Seniors Card is designed to ease cost-of-living pressures, offering concessions on energy, property and transport costs as well as relief on medical and disability costs. It also offers discounts on goods and services at participating Queensland businesses and access to the Senior Shopper Service which offers the best price on a range of goods and services.

There is also the Seniors Card +go which offers the same concessions and discounts as above, but also functions as a Go Card on Translink public transport.

If you’re not eligible for the Queensland Seniors Card or Seniors Card +go, you may still be eligible for the Seniors Business Discount Card, which offers discounts on goods and services at participating outlets throughout Queensland and access to the free Senior Shopper service.

There is eligibility criteria to apply for a card. Applications can be done online or by post, over the phone on 13 74 68 or at the Queensland Government Service Centre at 33 Charlotte St, Brisbane City.

For more information on Seniors Cards visit bit.ly/4a08Eq4 or phone 13 74 68.

BEWARE: The Queensland Government is aware of an unofficial website which charges applicants a fee in exchange for a Seniors Card. Please note the Seniors Card is free and you will never be requested to pay a fee. If you have provided payment to an unofficial website, you should contact your bank immediately and consider making a report to Scamwatch.

Jubilee Community Care’s Quality Care Advisory Body recently held an in-person meeting at our office. Meetings are held every second month with the next scheduled for October. Members of the Body include Jubilee Board Member Rachel Oxford, our Care Services Manager Sarah Edwards, clients of Jubilee and a representative of a client.

It is mandatory for aged care service providers to establish a Quality Care Advisory Body. Its purpose and requirement are to support and help with problem solving and to suggest improvements, and to provide the governing body with a written report at least every six months about the quality of aged care services provided.

The standing agenda of the Body covers:
* Staff, clients and/or their representatives feedback about the quality of care;
* Complaints and management of complaints;
* Continuous Improvement Plans and progression;
* Reportable incidents and actions taken; and
* Staffing arrangements; staff turnover, recruitment, education/training.

We are seeking additional people to join our Quality Care Advisory Body and contribute to the quality of our service for the benefit of clients and employees. Expressions of interest can be forwarded in confidence to Sarah Edwards at sedwards@jccagedcare.org.au or by phoning Sarah at our office on 3871 3220.

Jubilee Community Care will be part of the Over 50s Expo during Seniors Month in October. The expo will be held from 9am-1.30pm at Riverlife Baptist Church, Jennifer St, Seventeen Mile Rocks, on Wednesday, October 9.

Organised by the Centenary Police Beat Volunteers in Policing, the expo will feature speakers from the Queensland Police and other organisations as well as dozens of displays from Government organisations, Brisbane City Council, community organisations like Jubilee and commercial providers.

Places are limited. RSVP by October 1 to Centenary North Police Beat by phoning 3737 6811 and leaving a message or emailing centenarybeat@police.qld.gov.au

The best wishes of the Jubilee Community Care Board members, staff, volunteers and myself are offered to all clients and your families for this Christmas and New Year.

Jubilee Community Care – A Year in Review

At the start of the year Jubilee was fortunate to have the wisdom and foresight of a new Board. The Board comprised three former long-standing Jubilee Community Care Committee of Management members, including two life members of the organisation; and three new appointees who were added to the Board at its December 2022 meeting.

I was appointed in January and, for clients and families who I have yet to meet, I was the former Director of Jubilee from 2009 to 2021. The new Board and myself immediately commenced the challenge of addressing a number of significant structural, operational and compliance issues facing Jubilee.

A new Finance Manager was appointed and, over the next few months, former key employees were re-employed within the administration, finance, client coordination and human resource areas. A Care Services Manager was appointed to oversee the coordination of client services and we employed additional staff in our aged care services and client coordination areas.

The recruitment outlined above, together with existing employees, has increased our procedural knowledge and provided a stable platform for the benefit of clients and the service.

All staff and volunteers have worked tirelessly to restore Jubilee Community Care as a service provider and employer of choice. The results of this are reflected in our latest client survey – see our story on the survey results on page 3.

Emergencies and Natural Disasters

Jubilee Community Care is committed to planning for the possibility of emergencies and disasters within the community, acting where possible to minimise the disruption of services to clients and employees.

In the event of an emergency or disaster within the community, we will deploy an Emergency Management Team who will be responsible for providing effective management and implementation of the recovery efforts to minimise the impact on clients and employees.

I recommend to clients, employees and all of us to consider developing our own Emergency Plan using the Red Cross RediPlan. The RediPlan is a free disaster preparedness guide with hints and strategies on how to prepare for emergencies and make our own emergency plan. The Guide can be accessed online at:
www.redcross.org.au/globalassets/cms/downloads/pdfs/disaster-plan/red-cross-rediplan-disaster-preparedness-guide.pdf

Please contact us if you would like assistance to develop your Emergency Plan.

Kind regards
Shaun Riley, Executive Director

The Jubilee Community Care Board, staff and volunteers have worked faithfully over the past year to turn around an unsettled 18 months and to herald in a new chapter in the life of our organisation. And the results of our latest client survey reveal we are on track.

The results of the survey, conducted in October, were overwhelmingly positive with 97 per cent of respondents saying they were happy with Jubilee as a service provider. In the same vein, 98 per cent of people said they would recommend Jubilee to others.

Most importantly, 100 per cent of respondents to the statement “Jubilee staff treat me with kindness, dignity and respect’’ agreed with the expression. And 99 per cent agree the services Jubilee provides allow them to continue to do the things they want and to maintain their independence in living at home.

Jubilee also ranked above 90 per cent in the areas of client involvement in the development/review of their care plans; client communication; planning by Jubilee to meet clients’ needs; clients being provided services at a time and day that suits them; and client understanding of Jubilee’s service fees.

In a sign of the issues facing Jubilee since mid-2021, COVID-19 and the industry-wide staff shortages, only 66 per cent of respondents said they regularly see the same support worker(s) for their services. This is something Jubilee is working to address, and has been actively hiring new support workers to provide better continuity of care.

Jubilee Executive Director Shaun Riley said the results of survey reflected the wonderful work of our support workers and office-based staff.

“Jubilee Community Care Board members and myself acknowledge the resilience, dedication and hard work of our staff and volunteers. We are so grateful for what we have been able to achieve collectively.’’