South Australian aged care service provider Resthaven is investing heavily in allied health, expanding its range of services available to clients under its Resthaven Western Community Services banner.
This comes as conversations flow throughout the sector about the Government’s limited focus on allied health and lifestyle services within residential care settings.
In residential care, recent data from Mirus Australia shows an 8.5% decrease in the amount of time allied health professionals spend with residents.
Lifestyle services have experienced similar changes due to the Australian National Aged Care Classification (AN-ACC) funding model, which mandates that residents receive at least 200 minutes of care per day, but does not mandate allied health or lifestyle coordination.
Despite these startling figures, Resthaven is not following suit by reducing its support. In fact, they’re increasing it, especially for the growing number of clients who want to remain within their own homes.
“Our allied health workers run classes here at the site, as well as help to assess and develop individualised Health and Wellness Programs for our clients. Allied health workers help clients maintain their physical and mental health, and help them to remain living at home, leading an independent lifestyle,” Karen Hammond, Western Community Services Manager said.
“The team make a very important contribution to client wellbeing.”
The allied health team includes experienced professionals like Shayla James, an occupational therapist who joined the organisation earlier this year. Ms James said her goal is to promote independence by helping individuals understand what options they have around home modifications, useful equipment, and pain and fatigue strategies.
“Everything I do with my clients promotes their independence,’ Shayla says. ‘It’s always interesting. No day is the same and everyone is unique, so what I can do for my clients is tailored for their exact needs,” she said.
“We consider everything about the individual, their environment and their occupations [anything that occupies their time]. An occupational therapist comes up with ways to help you keep doing things safely and independently.”
She’s joined by physiotherapists Nicole Suter and Bill Pieri, a duo with substantial experience in aged care and disability.
Mr Pieri also worked for Resthaven just over 15 years ago as a fresh graduate.
“I love to help clients achieve their goals. I also enjoy watching their confidence grow as their abilities improve,” he said.
“I’m a big believer in dispelling myths around pain, and also providing evidence-based education. Physiotherapists who have kept up to date with pain sciences are important team members in chronic pain management.”
Ms Suter added that physios play a crucial role in reablement – helping someone to regain capacity and improve independence
“We can assist to build someone’s capacity through appropriate and tailored exercise to assist in fall prevention, improving mobility and pain management. We provide more than just ‘hands-on’ treatment. We like to take an active approach to client recovery and reablement through movement as well.”
Silvia Escalante, the site’s therapy assistant, brings 22 years of experience with the organisation and loves getting to know the clients and listening to their stories.
“I’m here to support them,” she added, “I also speak Spanish, which is very convenient for those Spanish-speaking clients who access our services.”
Their passion reflects the broader goals of physiotherapists and allied health professionals across aged care who are focused on helping older people recover from injuries, life-altering events or loss of capacity.
Success stories from home care clients and aged care residents are also clear evidence that continued support and investment in multidisciplinary allied health and lifestyle teams are essential for aged care.
