artwork is intended to advocate en masse and
give feedback to all levels of decision-makers
in the Aged Care Industry.
of Rural Northwest Health,
a small rural, public health
service based in the Wimmera
Mallee region of Victoria.
There are three campuses at
offered include residential aged care, acute
medical care, a range of primary care and allied
health services, and support for community
members living with memory loss.
management roles over the last 15 years in
private and not-for-profit organisations that
provide residential and community services.
Northwest Health are implementing the
Montessori methods for clients living in the
15-bed memory support unit, and developing
an innovative comfort care model for residents
in the late stages of dementia.
is on the
that the environment supports their
abilities and strengths
certificates in Quality Management and
Gerontology and successfully completed
her MBA in 2008. She is passionate about
providing a service that would provide an
way I would wish to live?"
with black tiles and small windows. Aged care
services were delivered on a model based
on a prison and hospital. 4 bed wards shared
bathrooms and sitting around the walls in large
day rooms was the norm.
the facilities we build for residential aged
care services have changed but despite us all
talking about person centred care, my parents
and I certainly do not want to live in a flash
aged care facility that means you get woken up
first because you are in room 1.
with dementia has been cure and not on
quality of life. At Rural Northwest Health
(RNH) we haven't washed our hands of our
responsibilities to care we have decided to
really focus on the individual. Instead of simply
lumping corralling everybody with dementia
together into one, big, `one size fits all' group,
we decided to look at what a person can do
and looked at ways that we could improve the
life for those we support - rather than working
out how to make it simply easier for ourselves.
and the tiles and we continue to work renovate
our Capability Model for aged care which was
awarded a State Public Health Gold Medal
Person Centred Care award in 2012. The
model began in 2010, and it is an innovative
capability focused approach for residents
living with dementia. The model includes the
following guiding principles and a focus on