I was always told by Mum ‘Silence means yes’.
A couple of years back I was informed ‘now you are over 70 you no longer belong in this community, you need to find a place in an old peoples home elsewhere’.
Do you agree?
The royal commission into aged care determined that removing older people from their environment would likely be detrimental to their mental and physical well being.
This has been assessed to mean helping them stay in their own home. However that is not always possible or advisable. Should that mean they must leave their community as well?
With the possibility of getting an ‘elders establishment’ west of the freeway, what features would the community wish it to have?
My first suggestion is that ‘permanent residential positions’ should be reserved for long term residents. We don’t want to become just another ‘geriatric zoo where old people are kept, fed, clothed, watered, entertained but of no real use’, in but not of the community, do we?
Please, don’t matter if you are old, young, or in between, have a parent or grandparent or are one, we need feedback NOW during the planning stage.
Hoping for heaps of feedback, give your support to Rural Seniors Voices. Our next meeting is 21st May 12pm in the hall on 13 Nurses Rd, next door to Dr Anand’s practice, or send a written submission to c/o 120 Ironbark Rd, Mangrove Mountain, NSW 2250.
Clara Jones 49988198
Dianne Starkey
Alan Smedley
