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Person centred care and the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to the care of older people have been motivating philosophies throughout Catherine Brown’s 30-year nursing career.

From her involvement in setting up Australia’s first Teaching Nursing Home to implementing a pioneering psychogeriatric service for the Northern Territory Government, Catherine Brown has blazed a trial in aged care nursing.

Brown has pursued an ongoing interest in nursing leadership and in 2013 became endorsed as a Nurse Practitioner in psychogeriatrics and cognition, one of a small number of NPs in Australia practicing in this area.

Motivating her work over her 30-plus year career has been a passion for person centred care and multidisciplinary practice and a special interest in dementia and mental health.

Starting out her career, Brown took an early interest in holistic care.

Having just completed her nursing training at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, Brown took up a position with the spinal injuries unit at Royal North Shore Hospital. It was there, working alongside occupational therapists, physiotherapists and social workers, Brown internalised the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to care.

“I really took on board that you can’t piecemeal nursing,” she says.

Following a stint in the medical ward at Katoomba Hospital, Brown worked in a number of aged care facilities, working her way up to director of nursing, including five years as senior manager of The Benevolent Society’s residential services.

Wherever she worked, Brown saw herself as a change agent – working to embed person centred care in organisations and cultivating an appreciation of further education.

“I would move on every three-to-five years and take on changing the atmosphere and introducing person centred care,” she says.

Valuing continuous learning

Teaching and mentoring staff has been a big part of Brown’s career and in her leadership roles she has strongly encouraged staff to attend conferences and engage with research. Brown is also a Certificate IV trainer in the sector.

“My whole philosophy has been making sure the staff are educated and skilled enough to push the boundaries, think outside the square, and be really innovative,” she says.

To this end, Brown was involved in setting up Australia’s first Teaching Nursing Home with Australian Catholic University in the late 1990s, with the aim of encouraging a learning environment in aged care and staff participation in research.

She has also had a long involvement with professional associations, the Australian Association of Gerontology (AAG) and the Psychogeriatric Nurses’ Association Australia and has sought to build a bridge between research and practice, and between the clinical and social.

A new frontier

Pursuing a deep interest in dementia and psychogeriatrics, Brown moved to the Northern Territory in 2009 to set up a new psychogeriatric service for the NT Department of Health, a role that she says changed her. “I became more of a listener then I was because you would sit under a tree on a milk crate and listen to stories and understand true person centred care.”

Considering the vast geography and limited resources, mentoring and upskilling frontline staff was a key part of ensuring the sustainability of the service.

“You would go out [to communities] and give them the resources and the skills to do person centred care,” she says.

“Whether it meant delivering meals on wheels from the back of a truck or taking a packet of salt so you could teach someone how to wash out mucky eyes with just some salt and clean water – it was empowering staff to keep someone in their community.”

In their shoes

Brown is also passionate about delivering experiential workshops as a tool for embedding person centred care, and was recently engaged by Catholic Community Services NSW/ACT to conduct workshops with 580 of its frontline staff.

Experiential learning is a key part of understanding and practicing this philosophy because it asks staff to step inside the shoes of a person with dementia, and to move beyond surface labels, she says. The simulation workshops encourage staff to feel “the impact of the confused mind and the challenge of being set up to fail constantly.”

She believes this type of training should be mandatory for all staff – from cooks to gardeners and care workers, and should be considered “just as important as training in infection control and outbreak management.”

While cost is a perceived barrier, she says the investment is worth the change in attitudes, communication style and reflective practice.

“It’s been a great career. I have enjoyed getting staff though further education and changing environments and philosophies of organisations to embrace person centred care.”

This profile appears in the current issue of AAA magazine (March-April). 

This article was originally sourced from Australian Ageing Agenda and was written by Linda Belardi.

The Australian Medical Association fears patients would use online health services in preference to their local GP if a trial proposed by a Chinese company is approved by Prospect Council.

Prospect Mayor David O’Loughlin discussed the deal with executives from Hisense during a trade mission to Shandong this month.

He said the company, which is the third-largest TV manufacturer in the world, was keen to trial the service in Prospect because of the district’s high-speed fibre internet connections.

The AMA is concerned about the potential deal and says patients should seek advice from their GP instead of overseas doctors.

Mr O’Loughlin expects to finalise a deal with Hisense in the next four months but said it was too early to say when the technology would be available.

“(Hisense) have technology that can offer diagnostics right to someone in their own home,” Mr O’Loughlin said.

“We want to provide the best support for people possible at their house.

“Whether the diagnosis would come from a doctor in Australia or in China is still a question to be answered.”

The cost of the deal had not been discussed yet, Mr O’Loughlin said.

AMA state president Janice Fletcher said the organisation “would not advocate that people look offshore for medical care and treatment”.

“The use of technology to support patient care is a growing area,” Ms Fletcher said.

“However, this is only suitable in certain circumstances, in conjunction with the patient’s normal care and support from their local GP.

“The checks and balances are there to protect patients from substandard care, and are one of the reasons we have a very safe health system.”

Ms Fletcher said if Prospect and other councils wanted to support online medical services, they should consult local GPs first.

Health Minister Jack Snelling was unavailable for comment.

Mr O’Loughlin said Hisense was interested in trialling its traffic management software, which controls red lights, in Prospect and possibly Adelaide’s CBD.

Any deal would also include Hisense trialling new products, such as smart TVs and smart fridges, in Prospect before releasing them to the wider Australian market.

“They want to use Prospect as a learning experience to improve the designs available to Australia,” Mr O’Loughlin said.

“Every house and every business in Prospect has fibre internet and this will allow them to monitor consumer behaviour.”

This article was originally sourced from Adelaide Now and was written by James Hetherington. 

SUNSHINE Coast charities and not-for-profit organisations collect almost $600 million a year through donations, bequests and grants, with higher education and the fight to save children from the sex slave trade among two big winners.

Data from the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) has shown people dig deep for the region's 429 registered not-for-profits, which received $44.7 million in 2014.

The data from that year's statements which registered charities submitted to the ACNC showed Sunshine Coast charities and not-for-profits had a combined gross income of $585.6 million.

Almost half of that - about $287.3 million - went towards expenses, including wages, for about 7000 dedicated employees.

Government grants made up about 56% ($328.4 million) of the total income from Sunshine Coast charities and not-for-profits while 7.6% ($44.7 million) came from donations and bequests.

The remainder came from other sources.

Data from the ACNC also showed which charities and not-for-profits recorded the highest donation amounts and who were the largest beneficiaries of government money.

Destiny Rescue - a Sunshine Coast charity which rescues children from human trafficking and sexual exploitation - recorded the region's second-highest amount of donations with $3.4 million.

Queensland state manager David Bermingham said the organisation aimed to direct 70% of donations to overseas projects while the remaining 30% covered administration, fundraising and awareness.

Charities, both local and across the globe, played a vital part for humanity, he said.

"These organisations work on the ground in areas that bureaucracy is not able to reach.

"They see the work that needs doing and fulfil the need by getting in and getting it done."

Mr Bermingham said generosity towards Destiny Rescue had a lot to do with the "Aussie spirit" of supporting the underdog.

"Australians are the sort of people that are prepared to stand up and say 'that's not right. What can I do?'."

If Destiny Rescue did not exist, thousands of children would still be working in the sex trade in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, the Philippines and India.

University of the Sunshine Coast was the only charity to record a higher amount in donations, accounting for about 17% of the region's total donations pool, with about $7.5 million.

Mercy Ships Australia was third highest with $3.2 million.

The university was the region's largest beneficiary of government grants, receiving about $169.1 million.

It was followed by Sundale Ltd, with $25.5 million, and IFYS (Integrated Family and Youth Services) Ltd with $19 million.

Wishlist, also known as the Sunshine Coast Health Foundation, raised $1.2 million in donations and received no government funding in 2014.

Chief executive Lisa Rowe said money raised from paid carparking at Nambour Hospital covered administration costs, which allowed 100% of donations to be used whenever something was needed, whether it was a new piece of equipment, a music therapist to help patients, or training for staff.

She said the work Wishlist did for the region's hospitals was like the "cream on top", to enhance a patient's experience at hospital and to ultimately reduce the need for people to travel to Brisbane for health care.

The work charities did was humanity's way of effecting positive change, Ms Rowe said.

"The work of charities across this world is important to us as humans, because it's the vehicle to effect positive change in a world where there is so much need," she said.

BY THE NUMBERS

• 436 charities and not-for-profits were listed in the Sunshine Coast region.
• About 58% of these (total 251) recorded donations.
• Less than a third (total 128), received government funding.
• Total income from Sunshine Coast charities and not-for-profits was $585.6 million.
• Total expenses were $524.9 million.
• 7028 people were employed by charities and not-for-profits. 2529 were full time.

Source: 2014 annual information statements registered charities submitted to the ACNC.

This article was originally sourced from Sunshine Coast Daily and was written by Pamela Frost. 

The Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) has received a record number of submissions to its revamped Excellence Awards.

Starting this year, the MFAA’s Excellence Awards will be integrated with the nationwide Broker 2020 events as state-based awards ceremonies ending with a national awards ceremony. The association has also introduced five new categories aimed at including a wider range of MFAA members.

MFAA CEO Siobhan Hayden says broekrs have responded well to these changes with the number submissions four times greater than what was received last year. In total, there are over 240 finalists.

“We asked members what changes they wanted and this included state-based events and an easier awards submission process. However we still wanted to maintain the quality required in the submissions,” Hayden said.

“Other interesting changes include the significant level of support for key categories outside of the general broker categories with both Young Professional and Best Newcomer awards attracting a large number of submissions. This interest is a positive sign for the industry as new and young talent demonstrate a real engagement with the industry.”

The judging process was conducted by volunteer industry professionals at senior levels. Most awards were assessed by three different judges and an average of the scores was calculated to decide the list of finalists.

“This is the largest list of finalists in the history of the MFAA’s Excellence Awards, and we are now working hard to verify the information so that we can deliver a great set of events across the country,” Hayden said.

“We’re grateful to everyone who participated, from members who submitted to the judges who reviewed those submissions.”

This article was originally sourced from Australian Broker and was written by Julia Corderoy. 

Fifty prominent Australians, including the former governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia and the president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, have written an open letter to Malcolm Turnbull asking him not to cut company tax and to make fairness the cornerstone of the upcoming federal budget.

“Cutting programs which support needy Australians to give more tax benefits to companies is not fair,” the letter, which appeared in newspapers on Wednesday, read. “A serious tax reform package designed to be fair should address as a priority the current generous tax concessions to the top end of town.”

“The pursuit of equity and fairness must lie at the heart of our national goals,” it said. “Collecting more tax, more equitably, will make Australia a better place to live and work.”

Senior members of the government have signalled that cutting company taxes remains a live option for the 3 May budget.

Executive director of the Australia Institute, Ben Oquist, warned that option would be “fiscally irresponsible”.

“Proponents of a cut to the company tax rate continue to promote claims of long-term, trickle-down benefits without identifying the immediate impact to revenue and in-turn essential services,” he said. “In fact, a five point cut in the company tax rate would deliver a projected $27 billion windfall over ten years for the four major banks alone. This simply makes no economic sense and would put Australia’s revenue base at risk.”

Former governor of the RBA Bernie Fraser told ABC Radio the “trickle down” theory of tax cuts is “discredited”.

“It doesn’t work and history shows it doesn’t work that way,” he said. “It’s even more untrue and unfair if those company tax cuts, if they were to be made, were made at the expense of cutting back on some necessary service spending. That would be the unkindest cut of all.”

He pointed to the lowering of company tax over the last few decades, saying it has not had an impact on making society more equitable.

“What it’s done is increase the profit share, and that’s increased over this period, at the expense of the income share,” Fraser said.

The national president of the ACTU, Ged Kearney, said Australians want the government to address corporate tax avoidance.

“Australians are sick of being told they must live within their means and accept cuts to services while our government allows big business to skirt their responsibilities,” she said. “The ACTU will run an aggressive campaign this election to make sure Australians realise the truth about corporate tax because it’s robbing us of the revenue needed to fund hospitals, build new schools and invest in infrastructure.”

She pointed to an online Essential poll of 1,010 people that found only 9% think the current tax arrangements are working. Nearly nine out of ten respondents supported the notion of a national anti-corruption body that oversees matters of tax avoidance, similar to New South Wales’

Independent Commission Against Corruption.

Other signatories to the letter include the president of the Uniting Church, Stuart McMillan, Nobel prize winner and former Australian of the year, Peter Doherty, and a number of prominent academics.

This article was originally sourced from The Guardian and was written by Shalailah Medhora. 

Australia's mango harvest has wrapped up, with the last pieces of fruit coming off trees in Victoria and New South Wales, as well as some farms in Queensland that grow a super-late variety called Brooks.

Australian Mango Industry Association chief executive Robert Gray said demand for Aussie mangoes had been strong throughout the season, meaning growers received some of their best and most consistent prices ever.

He said the size of the national crop was also much better than initial estimates.

"It's now looking more likely that we're not going to be down as much as we thought and we might even approach similar quantities to last year, so we might finish up with around 9 million trays," he said.

"That would put it up there with about the second-biggest year we've ever had.

"The feedback I'm getting from both growers and retailers is the average value of fruit sold and paid back to growers were up on last year.

"Growers in the Katherine region [NT] are telling me they probably had the highest returns they've ever had in terms of dollars, so a combination of quantity plus price."

Industry and export markets expanding

Mr Gray said the mango industry was in a stage of growth with new plantations being developed, older plantations yielding more, and recently-established orchards starting to come into production.

He said the 2015/16 mango season was one of the industry's biggest for exports, with more than 12 per cent of the national crop sold overseas.

He said plenty of fruit had gone to established markets such as Singapore, Hong Kong and the Middle East, and also into new markets such as America.

Mr Gray said by the year 2020, the industry was aiming to export 20 per cent of the national crop.

Looking ahead, the current wet season in northern Australia has delivered below-average rain and above-average temperatures, which is not ideal for mango trees, but Mr Gray said industry should remain confident.

"It's [the next season] going to be bigger and better, whether that's in volume I'm not sure, but what we're seeing is, that if volumes are down, prices are starting to make up for that as long as we focus on quality," he said.

"So whatever crop is thrown our way next season we're going to maximise the value of it."

This article was originally sourced from ABC Rual and was written by Matt Brann. 

The dental profession has a long and proud history of working in the community to promote the importance of oral health and the critical role it plays in a person’s quality of life.

This spirit of volunteering was on impressive display over the Easter break as a group of nearly 90 dedicated volunteers spent their Easter break delivering free dental and medical care to the residents of Tara, a farming town on the Queensland Darling Downs.

Part of an annual tradition that has operated since 2006 when the first volunteering mission was without mobile units and had to rely on a van loaned to them by Queensland Health, the trip is sponsored by the Buddhist Tze Chi Foundation.

It chose Tara when it emerged that that locals in need of dental care faced extensive waiting periods of up to two years to receive publicly-funded treatments.

Over the course of this year's trip, over 250 patients were treated over 12 hour days, with some even receiving treatment in their homes if they couldn't make it to the dental team in town.

If you're interested in offering your services in a volunteering capacity, go to Volunteering for an extensive range of opportunities.

This media release was sourced directly from the Australian Dental Association. 

The AMA supports many of the recommendations of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade References Committee report into the Mental Health of Australian Defence Force (ADF) Members and Veterans, which was released yesterday.

AMA President, Professor Brian Owler, said today the proposal for annual mental health screening for Australian Defence Force personnel is particularly welcome.

“The 2010 ADF Mental Health Prevalence and Wellbeing Study that found that, while the 12-month prevalence of mental disorders in the ADF is the same as that of the community, the ADF has a different profile of mental disorder,” Professor Owler said.

“This reflects the occupational stressors to which ADF personnel are exposed, such as deployment experiences and absence from family and support networks.

“ADF personnel suffer more from mental health complaints such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, depressive episodes, suicidal ideation, and making a suicide plan.

“Annual screening would help ensure that mental health problems are identified at a much earlier stage, would support early intervention, and lead to much better mental health outcomes for affected personnel.

“The Report recommends the development of a universal identifier for veterans that is linked to their service and medical record, a concept supported by the AMA.

“A similar recommendation was made in the 2013 report of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade on the inquiry into the care of Australian Defence Force personnel wounded and injured on military operations.

“The 2013 recommendation for a unique identifier was given ‘in-principle’ support by the Government, but little progress appears to have been made since then.

“A unique or universal identifier could help improve health outcomes for these patients. It would allow longitudinal tracking, which is critical to improving the robustness of research into the health of serving and former ADF personnel.

“It could also support the transition from ADF-funded health services to services funded by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) and mainstream health services.

“There is strong support for this concept among veterans’ groups consulted by the AMA.

“The AMA encourages the Government and the bureaucracy to fast track this important initiative to support defence force personnel,” Professor Owler said.

This media release was sourced directly from the Australian Medical Association. 

Leading Age Services Australia appoints a new chief executive officer as it moves to adopt a national model, becoming the third national peak body in the sector to announce a leadership change in recent weeks.

On Wednesday evening LASA announced it had appointed Sean Rooney, a former CEO of the Australian Medicare Local Alliance (AMLA), as its new chief executive officer, as the peak body entered the final stages of transitioning from a federated to national organisation. 

Mr Rooney, who is currently executive director of sustainability and climate change in the ACT Government, has previously held executive roles at the CSIRO and in public, private, and not-for-profit organisations.

He takes over from Patrick Reid, who has been CEO of LASA for the past three years.

Mr Rooney is expected to begin in the role in June, at which point the required amendments to LASA’s constitution were expected to be completed, the peak body said.

Dr Graeme Blackman, LASA chairman, said Mr Rooney had practical experience at the nexus of the health and aged care sector from his time at the AMLA, where he managed the national, member-based organisation with a large workforce and an annual turnover of more than $28 million.

Mr Rooney said he was excited about the potential for influencing aged care reform and ensuring that the voices of LASA members were heard in policy making.

The LASA board thanked Mr Reid for his service, saying he had helped unify and strengthen the organisation’s policy and advocacy functions. “He has led our association through transition, policy reforms and a change in government. He leaves LASA in a far stronger position today,” said Dr Blackman.

Several leadership changes

LASA is the third national peak body in the sector to announce changes to its executive.

Earlier on Wednesday National Seniors announced its CEO Michael O’Neil was stepping down after 10 years in the top job.

Mr O’Neill said it was time for “fresh blood and fresh ideas” at the organisation.

“When I commenced this role in 2006, I received a legacy of 30 years of growth and development. I leave at the 40-year mark, confident that the organisation is in good shape with a bright future”, said Mr O’Neill, who said he planned to remain in the workforce.

National Seniors chairman David Carvosso said Mr O’Neill had been an outstanding lobbyist for older Australians with both government and big business.

“Michael started with National Seniors in 2006, promising to stay for five years. We are fortunate that he has stayed in the job for nearly a decade”, said Mr Carvosso.

The National Seniors board said it had embarked on an extensive recruitment process, with a replacement to be announced in May.

Last week Australian Ageing Agenda reported that John Kelly, CEO of Aged and Community Services since 2012, was stepping down as the peak body also progressed with moves to transition from a federated to national entity.

ACSA said it was now recruiting a new leader to oversee the new management structure, which would bring together 70 staff nationally.

Changes come at momentous time

The changes in leadership at the peak bodies come at a pivotal time, as providers and consumers await to hear the government’s plans for the next phase of reforms to the sector.

The Aged Care Sector Committee, which is the government-appointed body of providers, consumers and professionals, provided its ‘roadmap for reform’ to the Minister for Aged Care Sussan Ley in early December.

Since then stakeholders have been awaiting the government’s response, and many were expecting further discussions on the proposals.

The committee’s roadmap was largely informed by the earlier blueprint produced by the National Aged Care Alliance, the broader consortium of aged care providers, consumers and professional groups that provides a forum to achieve consensus between stakeholders.

The Federal Government has already flagged that it sees residential aged care as the next area requiring reform (see our previous coverage here and here).

The peak bodies will also be gearing up for this year’s federal election, hoping to make aged care an election issue with all major political parties, and gathering support for addressing the sector’s workforce issues in particular.

And there are the ongoing issues with the rollout of the current Living Longer Living Better reforms – such as some unintended negative consequences from CDC and implementation problems with My Aged Care – that require lobbying of the department.

This article was originally sourced from Australian Ageing Agenda and was written by Darragh O'Keeffe.