A small town organises its own aged care at home service, allowing residents to stay in their own homes and create jobs for locals at the same time.
With its wide streets, coffee shop, a quintessential pub and affordable property, Bell on Queensland's Western Downs is the kind of country town older residents never want to leave.
Ms Heathwood visits several times a week, which allows Joan to stay in her home and in the town she loves.Bell Cares is a community-managed aged care service that helps the town's elderly residents access government-funded home care services, which locals then provide. "People [needing care] would say things like, 'They don't turn up, or they turn up on a different day. I don't like them. They send a different person every time.'
As Bell Cares began to take shape, it linked with the online platform Mable to match elderly people with their carers.Mable's Qld community engagement manager Brad Grieve said the Bell Cares model was proof an ageing population was actually a powerful economic driver for any town.