Listening to the WANTS of the ageing person
Dr Christine Clark
How often do we see mentioned that the ageing client has WANTS? We know they have needs, however what about the other ‘stuff’ the WANTS. The recent release of the Australian Epicor White Paper “The Growth and Demand for Home Care signals for a changing aged care landscape” reports on the usual issues associated with aged care; the growth of this sector, funding, ageing in place policies etc. However, the interesting aspect is that also describes the clients as being very discerning and having WANTS. This word is not often seen in articles about care of the ageing person. I first saw it in a report written by Ageing Asia (2017) where the consumer power of the ageing demographic was discussed along with the increasing significant requirements of this population.
So how do we address the WANTS of the person or do we even attempt to? Many want to live at home, of course as this is familiar to them, and care providers are now investigating how this can be best achieved. One of the more common issues of living at home is the social isolation that may go hand in hand, especially as the person starts to self-isolate due to difficulties associated with age such as mobility, communication and even confidence. There are ways to address all of these issues however it takes a Government or health care provider to actually want to address them. These people living at home have little voice and few people to listen to their WANTS. The other option is for the ageing person to live in a retirement village of some sort, however how much voice do they have?
I recently heard Mr Peter Carr President of The Retirement Village Residents Association of NZ (RVRANZ) speak about how few senior staff of Residential Villages actually asked the residents what they WANTED. Mr Carr spoke of the gap between the management of the Retirement Villages and the residents and how the residents just didn’t feature. Now not all Villages are like this, however perhaps in Australia it is even worse as there is now mention of providing person-centred care, at least New Zealand has talked about this for some time. Perhaps calling someone by their preferred name may be seen as sufficient to say we have ascertained a client’s needs and knowing that they prefer to shower at night and do not have milk in their tea is a good step however we all need to grow up and think about the real WANTS. If in fact the Government/organisation really cares, then this question needs to come from the top echelons, actually mean something and then drive policy and process.
I was recently at a conference where the Topp Twins were entertaining us in their usual very funny and musical way, however they had a message. This message was wrapped in a question: how many Villages had a ‘smoking room’ and they weren’t talking about smoking a normal cigarette? How many people who impact on the care of our older people are actually asking what the person WANTS? From a commercial point of few listening and responding to WANTS, regardless of whether the person has home care or is in residential care makes good business sense as it’s a great marketing tool and socially responsible. However, from a personal aspect we need to do this because before too long we will be that person with those WANTS and we need to ensure we are being listened to.
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