There are posts here and here and here about her.
Life changed in a massive way for her last year when she fell at home & fractured her pelvis.
Mum & I found our way through the Aged Care system here in NSW, which can be quite confusing at times.
Grandma is now safely residing in one of the nicer nursing homes in the area and can I say, thank goodness for the respite care system - they get to try before they buy, so to speak. When the elderly go into care directly from hospital, it is a crisis care situation and they are placed wherever there is a vacancy, which is not always close by. Grandma was placed in our local area but the nursing home was not very nice. Sure it was fairly new but it was noisy and I had heard reports of not so safe practices going on there. But there she had to stay until Mum & I were able to prepare her house to be sold to pay for a permanent room in a nursing home of the family's choice, with input from Grandma. I say it was the family's choice because Grandma did not want to go into care. But she was no longer able to stay at home on her own and was not prepared to pay for any further services to help her remain "independent". (She had 5 friends and family running around doing stuff for her so she could consider herself independent, so she wasn't really independent at all).
So, now that she has a new permanent place to live we are back to our Tuesday = Grandma days. I am not physically able to take her out yet, myself recently recovering from a minor workplace injury and the fact that Grandma is wheelchair bound means she needs more assistance than I can give (she can't get in & out of a car without virtually being lifted by whoever is with her - she will not move her feet to help herself as she is afraid of falling) plus I have Missy Megan in tow, who at 4, cannot assist me with Grandma.
So we go to her. Here are a couple of snaps of our girls' day yesterday:
Have you had any experience with the Aged Care system wherever you live?
Would you ever consider being the primary carer for an elderly relative, or would you place them in care like we did?
I would love to hear your thoughts.......
Karen xx
4 comments:
Beautiful story! What you did for Grandma whilst she was still "independent" is amazing. She is a very lucky lady to have a grand daughter like you!
Love your photos! Grandma looks great!
You are a lovely granddaughter. It is difficult when you are caring for your own family at the same time. They all need so much of your time.
Thanks for that post Karen. My grandmother is getting older now too and needs help more. My mum and dad do most of it and I know they are getting older too so it may be a decision we will have to come too soon. I hate her not having her freedom but I think knowing they are safe and secure is sometimes more important.
Thank you for taking the time to read AND comment, ladies, it is very much appreciated. Angela - the decision is not easy but we found Grandma's need were beyond what we were able to do in a safe manner and now my Mum can sleep better instead of worrying that her phone is going to ring with injury news. Grandma is in a safe environment now, with staff who are trained to cater for her needs. Just got to work on her socialising now......she is not interested in joining in any of the activities on offer......but we will keep trying!
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