An innovative pilot program of the National Centre for Healthy Ageing (NCHA), a partnership between Monash University and Peninsula Health, is providing much-needed support for older Australian carers.
In an Australian first, the Carer Health and Wellbeing Service, led by Monash University Rehabilitation, Ageing, and Independent Living Research Centre (RAIL) and clinical leaders from Peninsula Health, is supporting carers aged 50 years or more who provide informal care to older people aged 65 years and over.
This group of carers may also face their own age-related physical and/or mental health issues. This is the first service of its kind to focus on carers aged 50 years or more to improve their health and wellbeing, helping them sustain their carer role in better health.
The free interdisciplinary service, which is run by Peninsula Health, includes a social worker, psychologist, occupational therapist and physiotherapist. Between them, the team have the expertise and ability to support carers to identify and prioritise goals and empower them to problem solve and address their own health needs.
Principal investigator Dr Aislinn Lalor of Monash University's Rehabilitation, Ageing and Independent Living Research Centre (RAIL) said "carers of older people provide essential support for those they care for to remain at home."
Co-investigator and ageing expert Professor Keith Hill said this care saved billions of dollars of public funds every year, "However, carers often do this while neglecting their own health and wellbeing," he said.
Peninsula Health's Director of Community and Ambulatory Services, Iain Edwards, said initial research identified a real gap in available supports for carers.
"This service bridges the gap by identifying the particular needs of the carer to enable them to care more effectively. This may be through addressing some of the emotional and psychological impacts that can occur, as the person being cared for might now be quite different. Then through Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy support, we are able to help with the logistics around making caring easier, whilst maintaining the physical health and wellbeing of the carer."
NCHA's Director Professor Velandai Srikanth said supporting a loved one to age at home could be hard. "We know that feelings of isolation and loneliness are real, and that often older carers' own health and wellbeing needs can fall by the wayside," Professor Srikanth said.
"Our Carer Health and Wellbeing Service is the first of its kind in Australia and was established to make real and tangible inroads into addressing this inequity, by giving older carers, and the communities who assist them, access to opportunities and support systems that will enable the carer's health and wellbeing to also remain a priority."
In developing the project, data was integrated from multiple sources, including the Mornington Peninsula, plus elsewhere in Victoria, Western Australia and a unique carers' clinic in Brazil. Further drawing on co-design with individuals with lived and living experience, an innovative carers' health service model suitable for Australia has been designed. Another project hopes to implement and evaluate the resulting Australian Carer Service model at Peninsula Health, regional Victoria and New South Wales, as well as in Western Australia.
The pilot project officially launched on 1st March 2024 and currently operates every Friday, however in 2025 the Service will be available two days a week.
Case study - Ivan Freer. Ivan Freer, 72, has been a full-time carer for his wife for the last two years. Even with his own health problems that led him to being in and out of hospital for the last 18 months, Ivan has taken on the role of being a full-time carer.
Ivan's wife, who is partially incapacitated, has three fractured vertebrae in her back and has to rely on a walker to get around.
"She can't get around very well and she can't walk very far, and because of this it is up to me to do all of the housework," Ivan said.
The Carer Health and Wellbeing Service supports Ivan in his role as a carer and ensures he doesn't neglect his own health.
"The Service has helped me a lot, and it is definitely needed. I am able to speak to them about a lot of things and they have sent me in the right direction to get help or get what we need," Ivan said.
"I've got my own health problems, my health is something that I can't put on the backburner, I have to keep up with it, otherwise things aren't going to be done at home."
"You can call yourself a carer but I think most people go into it with no experience, and I would recommend this Service to other carers because it is always good to know someone is there for you and that you can ask questions," Ivan said.
Case study video here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wkq3jx18Y9SmEMZjdi6FqHPSgWRwquHb/view?usp=drive_link
