Ballarat Nurse Next Door Michelle Connor's focus on quality aged care

The registered nurse and long-time personal caregiver has been passionate that quality in-home care could not be rushed and connections between carer and client were vital to promoting dignity.

Ms Connor, who has extensive experience working in aged care, including dementia, has continued to strive for new ways to help others live fulfilling lives. She said families deserved someone to care for loved ones the way they would want care.

City of Ballarat, like its neighbouring councils, ended its in-home aged care program on June 30 and has been in a transition process in a bid to ensure vulnerable residents are not missed in the Commonwealth Home Support Program.

Ms Connor said there were so many services people did not know about that could help a loved one stay independent in their own home. She said there was a false perception was "you get to a point in life" when you had to enter aged care residency.

Work to change this mindset and help people realise in-home care could be bigger than a weekly assisted shower and quick clean is partly what drew Ms Connor to launch Nurse Next Door in Ballarat in April.

Ms Connor said her family had the luxury of being able to care for her father, who had cancer, until his death two years ago. She said not all families had such a choice, whether it be family dynamics or a lack of funding.

While Ms Connor considered going back into aged or palliative care, she felt this form of in-home care with qualified caregivers had heart.

"I like to ask 'what about the person as an individual, what did they used to like doing?," Ms Connor said. "Even sometime us, as a family, would not see that with Dad.

"Everyone has a story but it seems you get to a certain age and are ignored. This is about letting them have as much independence as you can."

Ms Connor has one client who is an artist and, in their early 90s, has found a way to paint again with a little confidence boost and help from a caregiver. These are the sorts of stories that Ms Connor said "melts your heart" and were like the good stories that often went publicly unnoticed from aged care facilities but these should be a part of all aged care.

Ms Connor said juggling care and navigating her way through business details had been tough but the positive impacts this could have on families made it all worthwhile - even if it was offering a little companionship and taking a client out for a coffee and shopping.

"I can't change the world but I can make a big impact in how care should be done," Ms Connor said. "It needs to be more about the whole person and them as individuals.

"A lot of people still get stuck on the old systems of in-home care - sons and daughters will often ring up and say they only need an hour a week because that is what they are used to."

IN OTHER NEWS

Have you tried The Courier's app? It can be downloaded here.