Woman forced to hire private carer to ensure dad fed at home

John McMenamin lives in one of Adelaide’s better nursing homes but his family has taken drastic steps just to ensure he’s fed.

Anne McMenamin with her father John, 95, who lives in The Lodge, an Eldercare facility in Wayville, SA. Picture: James Elsby

John McMenamin lives in one of Adelaide’s better nursing homes but after a series of events before Christmas left him severely dehydrated and on death’s door, his family took the step of hiring a private carer to make sure he has enough to eat and drink.

The 95-year-old former teacher and South Australian father of the year had already paid a $500,000 accommodation bond to live at The Lodge, run by the non-profit Eldercare, but his family would go on to shell out more than $10,000 to hire a carer for three hours a day, six days a week.

A gastro outbreak had swept the nursing home and Mr McMen­amin came down with ­aspiration pneumonia.

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“We are confident that on two occasions during the infection that if we hadn’t been there or without the carer, Dad would have died,” his daughter Anne McMenamin told The Weekend Australian.

“He had lost 5kg in weight and during one visit we came in and he could barely talk. He rasped ‘cold water please’ and we knew we had to do something.”

Ms McMenamin wants to make two things clear. After many family meetings and strong advocacy — something she knows not all residents have — the nursing home made some improvements.

The issues are not about the pure horror stories of outright abuse, she says, but the fact staff are under more pressure than ever. There is such little time and all too frequently across the sector residents are going without proper feeding or hydration.

“When Dad first went in, there were four personal carers in his area, then that got cut to three and it is now down to two and a bit,” she  said. “A childhood accident left his left leg 14cm shorter than the other and his left hip is fused, which means he cannot be safely fed in bed. And he has always been a slow eater, so it takes him well over an hour to eat. They just don’t have the time for that.”

Eldercare chief executive Jane Pickering said it was a “challenging time to be an aged-care provider”.

“Our funding has been reduced and the complexity of our residents’ care requirements has increased,” she said.

“The McMenamin family is in the fortunate position of being able to complement the care Eldercare provides their father, with supplementary hours of support. We work in partnership with the family and their private carer to deliver the best care possible.”