By Rob Dempsey, Alpha Support at Home Executive General Manager
Boomers are insisting on staying at home, in their own community, to maintain their independence and quality of life.
More than 80 per cent of Australians want to age well rather than be reliant on residential aged care services. And they’re looking for flexible in-home services like personal care and support for daily living, cleaning, garden maintenance and transport that let them live at home for as long as possible. If injuries or significant medical conditions do happen, they’re bringing the recovery in-house with the support of nursing or allied health practitioners.
Essentially, if they feel strongly about avoiding residential care — as does the vast majority — they’re keen to take steps to stay at home.
We could clearly see that care and support needed to adapt to this bold generation. It needed to serve them, not stifle them. To be on demand, to let people design a schedule around their life, to start small and scale up as those needs change over time.
We wholeheartedly support the right to stay at home and reject the societal assumption that ageing leads to an inevitable decline in autonomy.
It’s why we created Alpha Support at Home, serving today’s elderly citizens with the kind of support they’re wanting — without the clichés and condescension that saturates so much of this sector.
And it was the motivation for our conversation-stirring campaign, ‘Say no to the nursing home’. We wanted this generation to feel represented and respected as the revolutionary leaders they are.
And of course, to get people thinking about what they can do now to take charge of their future.
We’re seeing people as young as 70 start to plan for staying at home by at least researching their options for later on — the services available, what they could be entitlted to — so when the time comes, they’re prepared to press ‘start’.
You don’t have to age the way your parents did. Stay stubborn about what matters to you. That’s the sentiment we celebrate as an organisation — showing this generation of older Australians that there’s one provider that stands behind their right to choose.
For free advice, call Alpha Support at Home on 1300 023 676.
