Respect and resources are the key ingredients needed to help aged care providers such as Macedon Ranges Health deal with a ‘‘tsunami’’ of dementia cases, a Gisborne forum heard last week.
Federal opposition ageing spokesman Shayne Neumann and McEwen Labor MP Rob Mitchell heard from carers, patients and staff at MRH’s Gisborne Oaks aged care home, who demanded an immediate response to the crisis facing the area. Projections show McEwen will have the state’s second-highest incidence of dementia by 2050, with prevalence tipped to soar by 754.1 per cent.
Mr Neumann, who slammed the government for slashing aged care and dementia funding, said the nation needed to prioritise the issues.
‘‘We cannot show respect without providing the necessary resources,’’ he said. ‘‘You can’t keep cutting funding for dementia support and say you care.’’
Mr Neumann also called for greater focus to be placed on keeping people out of residential aged care for as long as possible.
He said councils had a large role to play.
‘‘When they’re designing parks, our bus stops, our walkways … as communities we need to be thinking what we can do to make them work for older people too.’’
The need for greater support, including respite, for carers dealing with the agonising decline of a loved one was also something that came through loud and clear.
‘‘We simply have to do more,’’ Mr Neumann said. ‘‘A society is a community, not an economy.’’
MRH chief executive Don Tidbury said the expansion of dementia services was high on his agenda.
‘‘The Macedon Ranges will experience a tsunami of ageing and dementia demand,’’ he said. ‘‘Over the next 10 years the number of people over 80 living in this area will nearly triple. This region will be experiencing a dementia crisis unless capacity and funding can be found.’’
