Aged care education

A report by Tuart Place social worker Jan Newman

Getting older holds fears for many care leavers, especially the possibility of entering a residential aged care facility.

A group of people from Tuart Place and Lanterns House recently completed training designed to assist care leavers to use their personal experiences of institutional care in delivering public presentations to aged care service providers. The goal is to raise awareness of key issues that may affect older care leavers engaging with the aged care system.

The training - Advocating for our needs in residential Aged Care - was provided at Tuart Place by professional trainer and author Margo O’Byrne, a care leaver herself.

The first ‘trial run’ presentation was on 29 May 2019, when three people from Tuart Place – Cevrina Reed, Tom Connelly and Dale Lynch – and Susanne Bourke from Lanterns, each delivered a short presentation to guests invited from the aged care sector. It was a very respectful and moving session, and the visitors were clearly affected by what they heard.

It is widely recognised that hearing from people with first-hand experience of trauma in institutional care is the most powerful way of conveying this important information to service providers.

The aged care training program developed by Margo O’Byrne makes use of the Federal Government’s information package on care leavers, which the Alliance for Forgotten Australians (AFA) was instrumental in developing https://agedcare.health.gov.au/careleavers

Continuing on from AFA’s involvement in the Aged Care Package, AFA Member Susanne Burke and AFA Board member Reg Casley will provide regular updates to the Alliance on the important work we continue to do within the aged care sector and in promoting the Aged Care Package to service providers.

4 Presentation to aged care service providers on 29 May 2019 (L-R): Susanne, Margo, Cevrina, Tom, Dale, Jan and Debra Magi (Case Manager, Find & Connect - Lanterns House)

Aged Care Royal Commission

Dale Lynch is Vice-Chair of Forgotten Australians Coming Together (FACT), the governing body of Tuart Place, and a survivor of abuse in out-of-home care.

Dale is the driving force behind Tuart Place’s submission to the Aged Care Royal Commission, which he is currently preparing in collaboration with consultant and fellow care-leaver Margo O’Byrne.

Dale writes: “Survivors have a legitimate fear of going into aged care facilities. They may also find it difficult having strangers come into their homes to provide various aged care services, and we need to take action to ensure that service providers are aware of the issues likely to affect care leavers and that workers are properly trained”.

We are keeping a close eye on the progress of the Aged Care Royal Commission, and will provide links to relevant material as it becomes available on the Commission’s website.