Using your home care package for its intended purpose
Staying at home for longer with home care
A Home Care package supports your independence and choices about your lifestyle to age well safely in the comfort of your own home. At St Louis, you are allocated your own coordinator to work with you and provide choices for your services and support and meet your home care and lifestyle needs in your support plan.
To get to know your lifestyle better we may ask questions about activities you enjoy doing, what your strengths are, the amount of support and frequency of support to make life enjoyable, and what is important to you and gives you a sense of fulfilment. These questions not only guide the services and support but also the support network we can offer you. When coordinating a support plan the services and support will be presented within a budget to ensure you understand your allocated home care funding.
Home Care that makes a Difference.
Some people try to accumulate their funds for a “rainy day” instead of getting regular services and support that could benefit them now. While it is a good idea to ensure there are enough funds for care that you may need in the future, it is important to find a balance and ensure you maximise your independence. Getting immediate services and support may be better for you than trying to save your home care funding to buy big ticket items.
“John 78 years old, was starting to use furniture for balance as he moved around the house. The coordinator recommended physiotherapy, exercise, and strength exercises as part of the support plan identified in the aged care assessment team (ACAT) assessment. Within months John no longer used the furniture he had strategically placed to move around the house and decided he should wait before buying mobility aids.
“I would like to stay living in my home for as long as possible”.
Your Home Care provider has a responsibility to ensure you use your home care funding for its intended purpose. We use your aged care assessment team (ACAT) as the foundation for your choice of services. It is important you don’t perceive home care package funding as an income stream, its purpose is for older people to choose needed support and services for independence and safety to live well in their own homes. Our coordinators spend a lot of time working with our clients on how to use their home care package funding effectively and to ensure it meets the regulated inclusions and exclusions.
Your support plan is developed in partnership with your provider. Everyone’s support plan is different because it is coordinated based on their needs and choices, to maintain their lifestyle. Here are some of the support services offered:
- Assistance with Shopping and meal preparation
- Personal Care – showering, dressing, assistance getting ready, grooming, and hair
- Home nursing support to monitor health conditions at home.
- Housekeeping – cleaning, laundry, and other chores to keep you safe.
- Support with impairments or continence.
- Social support and transport
- Overnight care
- Hospital-to-home care
Every quality hour of support you choose a week you may contribute to living at home for longer.
Quality use of home care support and services in your support plan, may delay entry into aged residential care or hospital visits. Our home care clients who make effective use of home care package funding and have a support network often experience improved emotional, mental, and physical health benefits and their general wellbeing.
George 82, says, “Since getting a home care package, I feel confident and my conversation with family has improved, we chat about what I have been doing around the house rather than a discussion about when I should be selling the house and downsizing to a unit because they thought I was not safe”.
Find out how Home Care helped Sue, George, Jean and Michael live at home for longer.
We have seen many clients feel safer and more independent at home feeling more empowered and happier.
Sue, George, Jean and Michael have been St Louis home care clients who wanted to share their stories about home home care had a significant improvement in their lives, wellbeing , health, safety and independence at home. They all had one thing in common - they maximised the use of their home care packages working with their St Louis care coordinator to ensure their services met the guidelines from their aged care assessment team (ACAT) assessment.
Read about their experience:
Sue aged 67 – Level 1 Home Care Package “If it wasn’t for St Louis, I wouldn’t be in my own home”.
George aged 82 – Level 2 Home Care Package "… With the support from St Louis Home Care I can remain in the family home”
Jean aged 86 - Level 3 Home Care Package “I could return home from the hospital with coordinated support from St Louis Home Care”.
Michael aged 74 - Level 4 Home Care Package “I can’t speak highly enough of the support from the team at St Louis Home Care”
Make the right choice in home care – with coordinated support tailored to your needs.
Make the right choice with your home care package funding. We would recommend coordinating a minimum of 70% of your allocated funds and working with your coordinator and get the results you want from to your home care package services and support plan.
Call St Louis Home Care Adelaide on (08) 8332 0950 or St Louis Home Care Victor Harbor on (08) 8552 1481 to find out more.
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