Just got back from visiting grandma in a nursing home.She's 83 and is spending her 1st christmas in a home.The home cares for the elderly with alzeimers. Bless her, she's pretty far gone. As I sat talking to her in common room , I was surrounded by about 30 ladies and a few men.The staff were doing their best to make them comfortable and to try and stimulate them, but it was a pretty fruitless task. At this time of year I felt really upset, knowing it would be my last christmas with her. But what upset me more was thinking one day that could be me. I know that seems really selfish, but I just kept thinking about the burden I'd be to my kids and the quality of life. So I just wanted to know has anyone got experiences of relatives in nursing homes in oz. More out of curiosity than anything else. Must be a mid life crisis as 40 is approaching fast!!!!!!!
To anyone who is the same position with relatives with alzeimers, have a merry christmas a happy new year.
Nick

l don't think they are treated any better then in the Uk, maybe worse, what do other people think? Read a story about a nursing home in Melbourne giving the elderly cheap crap food to save money.

I have no idea which system is better or worse. My grandfather is mentally functioning well at 86 but took to drink through geriatric depression, unfortunately his body didn't cope that well.

He is now in a nursery home and it costs £500 per week, that's right $1250 per week! How much can a sparrow eat? PS all the staff are minimum wagers from countries other than the UK.

Hi Nick,

Just wanted to say my thoughts are with you. I am trying to get to OZ with my husband on a Parent Contributory Visa so this could also be my last Xmas in the UK. My dad has alzeimers and I am spending Xmas day with my Mum and Dad and my heart is breaking too, I doubt my Dad will remember me in a couple of years time so am going to make the most of this Xmas and take plenty of photos. Mid life crisis, think not as I am 52. Have a merry christmas too and a very happy new year.
Linda

Best of luck Deci

Kind Regards,
Also in fogy Cov.

Thanx for the responses. Think people don't like to talk about it much, as it's such a nasty thing.You can cope with a physical disability , you can see it and know how to cope(my other grandma was in a wheel chair for most of my life and eventually died in a nursing home - but she had her marbles at the end) Alzeimers is like a living death - people find it uncomfortable discussing it - my grandma's nursing home charges about £500 a week.Apparently it's standard.It's on my list of not to do jobs - people who work with them deserve a medal

For the last 8 years, I've lived in a unit in a not-for-profit retirement village.
I have some health issues, but am still able to live independently. But the chief reason I chose this particular village was because there are 4 levels of care available; the first is the Independent Living section, with small villas and apartments for people who can still look after themselves: the next level is Assisted Living, where people may need help with dressing, cooking etc. These are large rooms with ensuite bathrooms, tea-making equipment, fridges, usually furnished by the ingoing person, so they retain a feeling of "home", with cherished possessions still around them. These people still have a very full life;there are theatre outings, sight-seeing trips, lots of clubs and hobbies they can select from. The third level is for those who are confined to bed; they have 24-hour nursing care. And there is a smaller locked area for those with various forms of dementia - locked in the sense of walls and gates surrounding the area for patient security; there are lovely gardens which they can visit when they're well enough.
This establishment is graded at the highest level of care by the WA Health Dept., but next year will begin a $40M. rebuilding project which will make it the best in Australia, if not the Southern Hemisphere. Very little of the funding will come from the State or Federal governments; astute management of finances by the (unpaid) Board of Management and staff over a number of years have made this state-of-the-art facility a reality.
As a "Senior Citizen", it is reassuring to know that all my health needs are catered for into the foreseeable future and my children are assured of my welfare.
So how does Australia care for its oldies? Very well indeed, provided you're careful about the choices you make while you're still able to make them!
And a couple of things about Alzheimers............one lady who was in the early stages told her grand-daughter that she WASN'T losing her mind; she was hiding it so no-one could find it!
And something I've read; that the loss of recent memories takes the sufferer back to earlier years, so the feelings and emotions they express are those of a much younger person. Of course you can't recognize them; they're a young person in an old person's body, which is challenging when you've only known them as Mother, Father, Grandma and Grandad.

Maybe it is because I am not so young anymore and "oldies" are not that much older but it struck me when we got here how few old people you see about. It is almost as if at retirement age they are removed from society. I think a lot of them move away from the cities at that point in there lives (eg to the South West from Perth) and others move into "lifestyle villages" where they can live with other oldies in a reasonably active way compared to UK retirement homes - swimming pools / tennis courts etc. I even saw a couple on tv recently who were selling their house in the burbs and moving to one of those places where they were in their mid-40's!

That's quite comforting to know, as one day we'll all need it (god permitting)
I love the comment about hiding the mind, so no one can find it.
Here in the UK pensioners are increasingly living in poverty(we both work and find it hard to pay the huge council taxes and ever growing heating bills),so god knows how the elderly do it. Whats it like in oz?

There are 'lifestyle villages' that take people as others have said from over 50's and for some reason in WA over 45's :scared: Not to be confused with nursing homes which the original post was about.

Nursing homes you get all the usual complaints about elderly care, neglect, low staff ratios, poor diet, infections and sexual abuse, thats happened more than once recently in QLD and VIC. Mystery infections/deaths in Canberra. Probably like most things same old variety of standards.

Over 45s!!!!! Bloody hell not long til I qualify for one then!!!!!!!!!!

LOL, you've just boosted me into the seat of my current hobby-horse!
The standard of living for pensioners has deteriorated rapidly during the last four years. And it's worse in WA. The Age Pension is upgraded nation-wide every six months, based on the (alleged!) Consumer Price Index. Government statisticians calculate the CPI for every State, then - again, allegedly! - average out the figure; somehow, this always seems to come out around the 3.1% mark. But the CPI in Western Australia is invariably higher; 4.7% in the last period, largely attributable to the boom economy. So we wind up 'behind the eight-ball' on a regular basis. IF the nationwide average figure includes WA's 4.7%, then obviously some states have a much lower CPI, and Western Australians are again subsidising the Eastern States.
And I did try to do the right thing; for the last 10 years of my working life, I contributed 8% of my gross income into a superannuation scheme. This too is CPI-linked. Four years ago, this fortnightly payment was adequate to pay maintenance charges here in the village and my gas and electricity bills. Now it meets only 75% of those charges. But wait! There's more! I also have a Widow's Pension from the UK, frozen at approx 30GBP per week. This used to give me an additional $390 per month; fluctuating exchange rates have decreased this to around $300; and, above a certain figure, every dollar I receive from Super and the UK decreases my Aussie pension by 50c. Financially it's getting tough. I haven't had a holiday in 5 years, regular nights out for a meal and the cinema are no longer affordable; I cannot be as generous to my lovely family at this time of year as I would wish. Yes, I could economise by not running a car, not paying for my ISP and stopping smoking! But you have to do something to make this aging life worth living!

This model of management should be copied al over the western world and beyond. God bless and k coming your way

Does the ozzie government make you sell your home to meet the nursing fees if you go into a nursing home. Now that's a real hot potato over here at the moment. Over the border in Scotland they don't. Whilst I appreciate that the government doesn't have the money coming out of their ears, and there are equally deserving causes, it really gets my goat that if you work hard, contribute to society and save for that rainy day, the buggers will take it off you.

Treatment of elderly is pretty much the same as UK, pay peanuts get monkeys, but are some good care homes as anywhere!