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New Zealand: Taranaki's ElderlyHave Support
to Stay Home
By
LYN HUMPHREYS
June 10, 2003 The
New Plymouth-based non-profit private organisation was responding to
Minister for Senior Citizens Ruth Dyson's recent comments to New Plymouth
Grey Power. Ms
Dyson said New Zealand's over-65s were not being offered services which
provided them with the essential link between their homes and their
communities. But
a trial project in the Waikato and Dunedin would soon be made available
throughout the country to allow those who were eligible to have fully-subsidised
home support if they did not want to go into a rest home, Ms Dyson said. Access
Ability (AA) national chief executive Pip Nicholls, New Plymouth, said
this was already happening successfully in Taranaki. "What
we do is assess the need and provide support. If there's a person out
there who wants to seriously stay in their home we would do whatever it
takes to support that choice, given consideration to their safety." A
total of $80,000 of the AA budget was spent on providing individual and
innovative services, Ms Nicholls said. AA
contracted specifically through Friends Plus to carry out additional tasks
such as shopping and collecting their wood. There
was also a "tuck-in" service available where a support person
visited the home and ensured basic security was seen to, including evening
medication was taken, appliances turned off and doors locked. "The
things that the children would see to if they were in Taranaki, but they
may not be able to do because they are living in Wellington," Ms
Nicholls said. Access Ability has been in New Plymouth since 1997 and has branches in Auckland, Wanganui and Dunedin. Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging |