Putting loved ones into aged care is almost a death sentence

LETTER: Profits before people has to be stopped

Residents are taken away from CraigCare aged care in Pascoe Vale in medical transport. Tuesday, August 4, 2020. Picture: David Crosling

Letter to the Editor

Aged-care homes have been defined as: “God’s waiting room”.

Sixty eight per cent of Australians who have succumbed to COVID-19 are aged-care residents. It is a statistic which repeated royal commissions and official inquiries have failed to adequately address or reduce.

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To be in “aged care” is almost a death sentence for those whose families have no alternative but to place their elderly in care. But “care” is a word loosely used to describe supervision, while the ratio is often one “carer” to 10 or 20 “clients”.

It is profit before people.

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MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - AUGUST 07: Staff return to work at St Basils Home for the Aged in Fawkner on August 07, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. A coroner will investigate the deaths of five residents at the coronavirus-stricken Melbourne aged care facility. Metropolitan Melbourne is under stage 4 lockdown restrictions, with people only allowed to leave home to give or receive care, shopping for food and essential items, daily exercise and work while an overnight curfew from 8pm to 5am is also in place. The majority of retail businesses are also closed. Other Victorian regions are in stage 3 lockdown. The restrictions, which came into effect from 2 August, have been introduced by the Victorian government as health authorities work to reduce community COVID-19 transmissions across the state. (Photo by Darrian Traynor/Getty Images)

No government or privately owned aged-care home willingly reduces the client-to-carer ratio. Rising costs across the board have affected the bottom line of every business, especially when clients have no alternative and no voice.

In this age of pandemic hysteria, the aged locked away from families and friends for the duration, are left wondering about their fate.

Many traditional families have their elderly living within their homes, providing for generational interchange and assistance.

However, in the third millennium, family dynamics and structures have radically changed, so that many past their “used by date” are sent away for strangers to care, for economic or practical reasons.

This dilemma is exacerbated by patients with dementia, often confused or difficult to manage. Time constraints and the tyranny of distance may mean they exist alone. It is the new “normal”, but comes at a great human cost.

E.Rowe, Marcoola

Residents are taken away from CraigCare aged care in Pascoe Vale in medical transport. Tuesday, August 4, 2020. Picture: David Crosling

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