Your Aged Care Compass

People often tell us they have had their My Aged Care assessment. This shows they do not understand where they are in the system. My Aged Care asks a series of questions. This is screening. This is not an assessment. The screening determines where this referral goes. 

Know the difference between screening and assessment. Know who is assessing you. Different assessment teams approve for different programs, and the funding varies for each program.

The process takes time, too, so consider contacting My Aged Care if you are providing significant support to an older loved one.

 In this episode: 

• My Aged Care is a contact centre, not an assessment service
• Contacting My Aged Care begins the referral and registration process
• My Aged Care screens people and decides where this referral goes
• Giving complete information will ensure you get to the appropriate assessment team
• How we know if people have been assessed or not
• Which assessment teams approve for which programs
• Entry-level services versus home care packages
• What happens after an assessment
• When to contact My Aged Care

Resources Mentioned 

• Blog | SeeMeACN
• Access Australian aged care information and services | My Aged Care
• Let's Talk Consultation

Connect with Coral Wilkinson: 

• Instagram 
• LinkedIn 

Follow See Me Aged Care Navigators:

• See Me ACN website
• Facebook
• Instagram

More about Your Aged Care Compass podcast: 

Do you support an older loved one at home and you're ready to give up because it’s just too hard? Your Aged Care Compass is for you.

We're Coral and Michelle, the sisters behind our business, See Me Aged Care Navigators.

Coral is a registered nurse with over 30 years’ experience in both health and aged care. A former assessor with the aged care assessment team, an advocate and author, there’s not much Coral doesn’t know about Australia’s aged care system.

Michelle is a former pharmacist with over 30 years in the public health and private sectors of pharmacy. Michelle is the client care manager for our business. 

Our story started as one of supporting our parents to remain in their own home, to be as independent as possible and remain connected to their community. When we eventually needed extra support, we achieved this because we know Australia’s aged care system so well. We knew what programs could assist us and our parents.

Your Aged Care Compass podcast brings together not only our personal experience in supporting our parents but also our vast professional experience in supporting other families to keep their loved ones at home. 

We'll help you makes sense of Australia’s aged care system and bring you topics related to ageing as well. Legal, financial, health, forward planning and more.

 Your Aged Care Compass will guide you clearly and compassionately to the right support at the right time for your ageing parents and loved ones. 

Like what you hear? Please leave us a rating and review. We’d love you to share this podcast with any friends or family who have older loved ones.

After Dad passed away in January 2018, Coral began to write, starting with her blog “Dementia, my dad and me.” This was her way of dealing with the grief of Dad’s passing. This documented Coral’s journey with Dad over his final 8-10 years, his slow decline in cognition, his eventual diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, his final year of life and his eventual death. 

At work, Coral was being asked more and more by her allied health and nursing colleagues to help families to understand what support could be utilised to get their older loved ones home from hospital and keep them there.

It was at this point that Coral realised she could do so much more to educate people on Australia’s aged care system so they could get the help they needed at home. So her business was born.

We care about people getting the right outcomes for their older loved ones. 

 In this episode: 

• How Coral’s blog helped people to understand Australia’s aged care system 
• Coral’s decision to give up her nursing position and launch her business as an aged care navigator.
• We educate people to get the best out of Australia’s aged care system
• Preparation is key before you contact My Aged Care
• Situations where we have helped people to get the help they need
• Being stoic can be a disadvantage
• Entry-level versus higher-level care options
• The aged care system can provide options if people are aware of the programs that can be accessed

Resources Mentioned 

• Blog | SeeMeACN
• Access Australian aged care information and services | My Aged Care
• Let's Talk Consultation

Connect with Coral Wilkinson: 

• Instagram 
• LinkedIn 

Follow See Me Aged Care Navigators:

• See Me ACN website
• Facebook
• Instagram

More about Your Aged Care Compass podcast: 

Do you support an older loved one at home and you're ready to give up because it’s just too hard? Your Aged Care Compass is for you.

We're Coral and Michelle, the sisters behind our business, See Me Aged Care Navigators.

Coral is a registered nurse with over 30 years’ experience in both health and aged care. A former assessor with the aged care assessment team, an advocate and author, there’s not much Coral doesn’t know about Australia’s aged care system.

Michelle is a former pharmacist with over 30 years in the public health and private sectors of pharmacy. Michelle is the client care manager for our business. 

Our story started as one of supporting our parents to remain in their own home, to be as independent as possible and remain connected to their community. When we eventually needed extra support, we achieved this because we know Australia’s aged care system so well. We knew what programs could assist us and our parents.

Your Aged Care Compass podcast brings together not only our personal experience in supporting our parents but also our vast professional experience in supporting other families to keep their loved ones at home. 

We'll help you makes sense of Australia’s aged care system and bring you topics related to ageing as well. Legal, financial, health, forward planning and more.

 Your Aged Care Compass will guide you clearly and compassionately to the right support at the right time for your ageing parents and loved ones. 

Like what you hear? Please leave us a rating and review. We’d love you to share this podcast with any friends or family who have older loved ones.

Australia’s aged care system is complex and can disadvantage the people it’s meant to support. We teach people how the system works and how to get the support they need to stay living in their own home for as long as possible.

Learn about My Aged Care, the programs of support that you can get in-home, the assessment teams, home care packages, what to do if your needs increase, and what will change when the reforms begin.

We want to educate people to get the support for their loved ones that we were able to get for our dad as his needs changed, his dementia progressed and he reached the end of his life. We accessed different aged care programs at different times. Knowing what was available enabled us to give him the appropriate care at each step of the way.

In this episode: 

• Why we talk about in-home aged care support 
• Topics that we’ll be covering in future
• Our personal experience and Dad’s story
• Programs of support that are utilised in different circumstances
• Clinical input to improve outcomes and quality of life
• When should you be thinking about getting some support?
• Aged care is so much more than nursing homes

Resources Mentioned 

• “My Parents Are Ageing, What the Heck Do I Do?” Author – Coral Wilkinson  
•  Access Australian aged care information and services | My Aged Care 
• Let's Talk Consultation

Connect with Coral Wilkinson: 

• Instagram 
• LinkedIn 

Follow See Me Aged Care Navigators:

• See Me ACN website
• Facebook
• Instagram

More about Your Aged Care Compass podcast: 

Do you support an older loved one at home and you're ready to give up because it’s just too hard? Your Aged Care Compass is for you.

We're Coral and Michelle, the sisters behind our business, See Me Aged Care Navigators.

Coral is a registered nurse with over 30 years’ experience in both health and aged care. A former assessor with the aged care assessment team, an advocate and author, there’s not much Coral doesn’t know about Australia’s aged care system.

Michelle is a former pharmacist with over 30 years in the public health and private sectors of pharmacy. Michelle is the client care manager for our business. 

Our story started as one of supporting our parents to remain in their own home, to be as independent as possible and remain connected to their community. When we eventually needed extra support, we achieved this because we know Australia’s aged care system so well. We knew what programs could assist us and our parents.

Your Aged Care Compass podcast brings together not only our personal experience in supporting our parents but also our vast professional experience in supporting other families to keep their loved ones at home. 

We'll help you makes sense of Australia’s aged care system and bring you topics related to ageing as well. Legal, financial, health, forward planning and more.

 Your Aged Care Compass will guide you clearly and compassionately to the right support at the right time for your ageing parents and loved ones. 

Like what you hear? Please leave us a rating and review. We’d love you to share this podcast with any friends or family who have older loved ones.

Are you supporting an older loved one at home and ready to give up because it’s just too

hard? Your Aged Care Compass is aimed at anyone who is caring for an older loved one who

still lives at home and is wondering what support is available to them.

We're Coral and Michelle, the sisters behind our business, See Me Aged Care Navigators.

Coral is a registered nurse with over 30 years experience in both health and aged care. A

former assessor with the aged care assessment team, an advocate and author, there’s not

much Coral doesn’t know about Australia’s aged care system. Michelle is a former pharmacist with over 30 years in the public health and private sectors of pharmacy. Michelle is now the client care manager for our business.

Our story started as one of supporting our parents to remain in their own home, to be as

independent as possible and remain connected to their community. We reached a point

however, of needing extra support and we achieved this because we know Australia’s aged

care system so well, we knew what programs could assist us and our parents.

This podcast, Your Aged Care Compass, brings together not only our personal experience in

supporting our own ageing parents but also our vast professional experience in supporting

other families to keep their loved ones at home.

We will help you makes sense of Australia’s aged care system, from your first contact with

My Aged Care through to the different funding streams and assessment workforces,

management options for home care packages and extra funding that people might be

eligible for.

There's so much more. Topics relating to dementia and legal and financial considerations

will be covered, as well as real-life stories of where it went wrong for people and how we

guided them to get it right.

Your Aged Care Compass will guide you clearly and compassionately to the right support at

the right time for your ageing parents and loved ones.