Everything you need to know about aged care

'Far too many decisions are made in hospital carparks' - Expo aims to help people navigate a complex system.

BE PREPARED: Shane Hayes will be presenting at the Aged Care Architects Expo in Grafton on Sunday. Picture: Contributed

NAVIGATING the aged care system can be daunting, but an initiative aimed at assisting people through the process is coming to Grafton.

The Aged Care Architects Expo is being held on Sunday at the South Grafton Services Club and brings together industry representatives to give presentations and answer questions concerning a topic that is often not talked about.

Organiser of the expo and owner of Aged Care Architects Shane Hayes said he dedicated himself to helping people through their aged care journey after he assisted a relative into care.

"I was bamboozled, the process was a nightmare. And as I started talking to other people I realised everyone had a story,” he said.

"Then noticed there were very few people talking about this, so that is how the expo came about.”

Lawrence resident Peter Smajstr has only just helped his mother into residential aged care and said the process was complex and at times confusing and encouraged people to start planning early "so you are not forced into making tough decisions when you are not prepared.”

While there was a lot of information out there, Mr Smajstr said it was hard to find information specific enough to be relevant to his mother's situation and more information from lived experiences was important.

"Some websites have a lot of information but it can become more confusing. I spoke to a number of different people and each time got varying degrees of clarity,” he said.

"I would have liked to have seen more case studies and then see which one applied more closely to my mothers situation.”

Having recently assisted her husband in to permanent residential care, Margaret Kirby found the financial side of the process complicated, even as someone with administration experience.

Ms Kirby said people were often unprepared and information sessions like the Aged Care Architect expo could be invaluable.

"I think there are a lot of people who have no idea of what has to be done and it is very difficult dealing with so many different things while putting a loved one into care,” she said.

"I would absolutely encourage people not to put this aside, go and find out what you need to know because you don't know what is ahead.”

While Ms Kirby had already started the process by the time she was introduced to Mr Hayes and event co-organiser Kerrianne Mackay, she said their assistance was a real help and praised their work in the area.

"They came to my house and discussed things over a cup of tea and when I made those financial decisions it was like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders.”

The lack of preparedness was something Mr Hayes was trying to remedy but said was very common and added that "far too many decisions are made in hospital carparks.”

He had not only invited representatives from residential aged care providers to the expo, but those in home care services, a builder who specialised in constructing granny flats and also an organisation which installed lifts into the family home.

"We are bringing people together and building connections so you don't have to do it alone,” he said.

"Hopefully people will be able to have a name and number to call when they need. I didn't know the first person to ring when I started this journey.”

The event would be held at the South Grafton Services Club on Saturday at 1pm to 4pm and bookings could made by calling Shane Hayes on 0411264002.

Originally published as Everything you need to know about aged care