It is too easy to underestimate aged care, and this is partly because our society often views ageing only in terms of diminished capacities. | Opinion
Like many families with frail elderly parents, I have been watching the unfolding COVID-19 crisis in aged care with concern. My mother died following a major stroke in January this year but that hasn’t stopped me wincing at the stories.
I was visiting Mum early one morning at the nursing home when a staff member came through on her medication rounds. I witnessed an interaction of such emotional intelligence and agile problem-solving that I felt humbled. A combination of kindness and skill was shown when Mum couldn’t swallow properly, when she couldn’t remember what the tablets were for or why she needed to go through the bother of it.It is too easy to underestimate aged care.
Nursing fragile elderly people can be confronting and challenging at almost every level and can reveal the very heart of a person. Even without the duress and distress of COVID-19, the nature of the work is up close and personal and involves people we love dearly. Nursing fragile elderly people can be confronting and challenging at almost every level and can reveal the very heart of a person.Neither does the Australian dream narrated by the Prime Minister at his election speak to the broken, chronic, disabled and painful parts of life. If his dream of job-partner-house-children-retirement had any traction in May 2019, it will be on changed turf now., Ilsa Hampton, reads the aged care issues through a wide cultural lens.
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