SOS: Save Our Seniors!

In 1997 John Howard introduced The Aged Care Act that privatised the aged care system. It was the beginning of the end of quality care. You don’t need to work in the sector to realise that juicing our elderly for cash is unethical. It’s at the heart of a cruel system that does not put people at the centre of care. Sitting in the centre of those models is the profit motive. If you’re not making profits in the aged care sector then you will fail, whether you are a private enterprise or a registered charity.

Cryptic Clues

ACROSS

1. To undress Ms Anderson, turn to a running guide (5,3)

9. See quail panic – make it even (8)

10. Deity, mate? Go back to the compliant pet (6)

11. Simple path – and well paid destination (4,6)

12. Only a swamp (4)

13. E, the ultimate risk (4,6)

16. Surprise stud on a rampage (7)

17. Left queens to the baggage carriers (7)

20. C, but beginning of school is tops! (5,5)

22. Throw out actors (4)

23. Choose to make a speech for the constituency (10)

25. Am I a dog? (6)

26. Administer remedy, suggests Spooner of the animal (8)

27. Torment around Sydney Theatre Company – it could be a precedent (4,4)

DOWN

2. Dishonest tricksters, claimed Spooner of the tutors (8)

3. Use dingo in substitution for native (10)

4. Distant clouds for Allen, uncomfortable in the enchantment (10)

5. Quiet, unhappy sister – keep going! (7)

6. Self-righteous about trees (4)

7. Sort of bible – go back to understand over a long time (6)

8. Worries around an article? Down! (8)

14. Smell peaks, observed Spooner, looking at the mast-tops (10)

15. Our tactic a disaster – one man rule! (10)

16. Garnett to score badly – get outside! (8)

18. Uneasy as remainder becomes smaller (8)

19. Whip around – naked show! (7)

21. Danced, rush around the French (6)

24. The burden of running America (4)

Stars By Lilith

Breaking celestial news this week is Saturn, planet of form, beginning its three-year swim in the Pisces ‘Ocean of Undoing...’

Quick Clues ACROSS

1. It shows the route to be followed, in a linear way (5,3)

9. Make comparable; balance (8)

10. Toady; lackey (6)

11. Bed of roses! (4,6)

12. Pure and simple (4)

13. Final opportunity (4,6)

16. Startle (7)

17. Doormen (7)

20. Excellent (5,5)

22. Fling; toss (4)

23. Area of persons entitled to vote (10)

25. Compositor (6)

26. Living thing (8)

27. Used to verify functionality; experiment (4,4) DOWN

2. Instructors (8)

3. Aboriginal (10)

4. Name of two small, distant galaxies (10)

5. Carry on (7)

6. Glues; resins (4)

7. Hebrew tree cutter (6)

8. Plumage (8)

14. Look-out points on the ship (10)

15. Dictatorial (10)

16. Open-air (8)

18. Fidgety (8)

19. Place providing musical entertainment (7)

21. Staggered (6)

24. Responsibility (4)

Last week’s solution #480

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Unlike nursing homes, the more independent and lower care Byron Feros is not a profit-making model. And in the world of aged care, that’s a problem.

Last week I sat in on a meeting with the residents of Byron Feros and their families. Just a few days before they had been told by the CEO that the site was going to be redeveloped and they would have to leave. Let’s just reframe this by saying that ‘the site’ is their home. Four cottages with ten units that sit on 8000 metres of Crown land; this was the realisation of the dream of George Feros, who walked the streets of Byron with a bucket, raising money for Feros Village – hostel-style 24-hour care for the frail aged.

Forty people live there. They are happy. Or at least they were. In 2020 Feros celebrated 30 years. They said ‘Grow bold’. Well, guess what? These older people are bold, and they’re not intending to leave. This is their home. They have a community in this community and they don’t want to go. No one consulted them about what they wanted. The residents hadn’t heard even the faintest rumour of redevelopment. It seems these grand plans have been top secret. It seems plans for their removal were a fait accompli. And let’s just call this what it is; the removal and eviction of some of Byron’s oldest residents from what was to be their last home. Why should they leave? They have rights. This is their home. One woman had been moved in from Merimbula just two weeks before the announcement. No one had said anything about the plans for redevelopment before she moved. How can an organisation cognisant of plans to redevelop take on a new resident? Making her move 1300 kilometres and then telling her she has to leave? That’s cruel. That is not good care. That is an approach that causes harm.

ARIES: This week, Venus in Aries excites and lights you up, while abundant Jupiter, big and bold in your trailblazing sign, offers generous helpings of love, luck and wisdom. Start thinking farewell to those uncontrolled emotional surges, and hello the new mature Aries facing this year’s tectonic shakeups with can-do confidence.

TAURUS: Jupiter in your zodiac sector of endings is busy streamlining and space clearing. Which includes the person you’ve grown out of, the person you’ll never grow into, the person it’s too exhausting to keep being – because in a couple of months Jupiter’s moving into Taurus to showcase the new you.

GEMINI: Pushy red planet Mars is cooking with chili in your base of operations and Mercury’s moved into perplexing Pisces, so protect your nervous system this week by taking care of pressing business before autumn equinox on 21 March catapults us into a wild four-week ride in the realm of the Ram.

In fact, the residents had all been blindsided. The shock left some in tears, and ended with one of them in hospital. They continue to experience enormous emotional duress. It was clear that the stress on the elders who live in Byron Feros is huge. Here are people, some in their 90s and 100s who moved in good faith to what they thought was to be their last home, now being told that their home is being bulldozed for something bigger and brighter and more ‘inclusive’.

I don’t know, forcibly moving people out of their home doesn’t feel very ‘inclusive’ to me. It feels brutal. It feels like a dereliction of duties.

One resident showed me her Permanent Resident Agreement, where it was noted that the provider pledged to assist the resident to stay in her original room. They called it ‘Ageing in Place’. Well, Feros, the residents want you to abide by clause 1.3 – they want to Age in Place, the very place where they are now: Marvell Street, Byron Bay. Read your own Resident Agreement, Feros board members.

But guess what? The Feros board (all paid positions) of this registered charity, who’ve delivered this missive through

CANCER: As Pisces vibes ask everyone to lift their support game, if you’re volunteering, consider making water your cause or beneficiary, because Cancer is associated with the oceans and it’s no secret they need help. Use the astral assist of this week’s Saturn to write (yes, write down) a practical plan of action.

LEO: Genial Jupiter jazzing up your adventure sector has you revving on all cylinders, but this emo week requires a gentle tread and extra patience with loved ones, colleagues and housemates. So read the room, check the atmospheric pressure, and summon your empathic self because you’ll also be sensitive to unexpected reactions.

VIRGO: Pisces, your opposite and complementary sign on the astrowheel, rules the subconscious, and this week’s planetary quadrinity in Pisces beams attention inward. Thoughts play a major part in shaping our reality and coloring our outlook on life, so what is the current celestial emphasis in your relationship sector telling you?

MANDY NOLAN’S

LIBRA: Despite this week’s plethora of potentially confusing Piscean energetics in your sector of health and work, the good news is material-world manifester Saturn is on board to help you run checks for right timing, correct connections and ethical concerns –critical assistance that continues for the next three years.

SCORPIO: This week’s silver lining? The nurturers in your life: family, friends or mentors who remind you that you don’t have to go it alone. Reach out and let them know how much their love and support means to you. If weekend Scorpio moon doesn’t provide the perfect circumstances, then make another time – but do it.

SAGITTARIUS: Sagittarian blurt alert! This could be one of those openmouth-insert-foot weeks, with itchy and scratchy consequences, so don’t get suckered into arguments with the commentariat. Open up discussions to a variety of perspectives and assess situations from all angles. Happier news? This week brings some touchyfeely warm and wonderful, close and intimate moments.

their new CEO and who, I should add, did not turn up to support the residents and explain the decision, are in for a fight. The motto ‘grow bold’ might just bite them on the arse. These residents will not be bullied. They are old and they are bold. They do not want to be taken aside, one at a time, and picked off. In fact, they have told Feros that all conversations about the relocation must include a family member or advocate. They intend to stay. They know their rights. They are calling on the community – and the community is coming.

I heard one lady on her walker say to her daughter, ‘I feel so much better now I know the community is behind us’. For the first time ever, many of these residents will be painting placards for a rally. This is a pivotal moment for our seniors, but also for us.

Please come to stand by our seniors to save the place they call home. Let’s put people at the centre of this conversation. Let’s honour the spirit of George Feros. This is their home.

Rally at Byron Rec Grounds this Sunday, 12 March at 3pm. Bring a placard, bring a chair, bring everyone you know.

Let’s be bold.

CAPRICORN: Saturn transits are concerned with timing. In Pisces for the foreseeable future, i.e. the next three years, your planetary ruler is suggesting that slowing down and observing subtle signals will be your best strategy for synching into the right time, the best place and the most beneficial circumstances to make your moves.

AQUARIUS: As Saturn leaves Aquarius for its next three-year intensive (this time in your income zone, honing your economic expertise), what lessons in timing, ethics and boundaries did the many-ringed planet leave you with concerning the emotional support, mental stimulation and psychological health of your community connections over the last three years?

PISCES: Joining this week’s Sun, Neptune and Mercury in Pisces, regulator planet Saturn can manifest as a wise mentor instructing you in techniques of mastery. And/or bring difficulties that force you to stand up for yourself, utiliise your potential and take responsibility for your actions in dancing with life’s sometimes-harsh realities.

March 8-14, 2023

Editor: Eve Jeffery

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