Village Voice (Our Blog)

Payment options for aged care

A guide to the different options of residential aged care and what you can expect to pay When Olga Kucera, 92, was advised for health reasons to move into residential care her immediate thought was to sell her home up the Hawkesbury River. But when the keen gardener was presented with the more financially viable

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Starting the aged care conversation

January is when many families confront the need for aged care, after spending time together over Christmas. When Barry Ridge, 87, was diagnosed seven years ago with Lewy body dementia his wife Edith, 87, and family knew that his care needs would steadily increase. For several years they managed in their home of 25 years

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Inside aged care facilities

You’ve seen the brochures and driven past the building; but the only way to really know whether an aged care facility might be the right one for you is to look inside. First impressions count for a lot but it is also important to get an understanding of how they operate to know whether it

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Canberra aged care bed boost

Canberra winters can be cruel, but for someone waiting for a bed in a residential aged care facility the cold weather may have been their salvation. Most of Canberra’s 30 aged care facilities are used to long waiting lists and to turning away people who need higher levels of care than can be given in

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Home Vs residential care

Would you or your ageing parents, given the choice, prefer to grow old at home rather than moving into residential aged care? Whether it’s complex nursing, palliative care or help with daily chores that’s needed, leaving home is no longer always necessary for those requiring assistance. Not only are there growing numbers of government-subsidised home-care

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The cost of aged care

The accommodation component of aged care is no small amount. Accommodation prices currently published by providers on the government website My Aged Care range between $50,000 and $2,000,000, with an average price of $359,000. The RAD is the lump sum payment which can charged by a facility. Those that can afford it will pay what

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‘Tis the season for aged care placement

Family gatherings can be full of emotion at the best of times, but there is nothing like the festive season to bring out the best and worst of people. For many the chance to get together would have been a reality check on how senior family members are faring. It might have been when everyone

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Do you sell the house to fund aged care?

To sell or not to sell the family home is one of the most often asked questions when it comes to trying to work out the best way to fund aged care accommodation costs.  Trying to work out the money implications of different ways to fund aged-care accommodation can be mind boggling. Aged-care specialist Later

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Aged care assessments wrong

Six months into a new means testing process for individuals entering aged care, only one in five people are being given correct information about their income and assets. Getting it wrong means that some people are being asked to pay an amount of money for care that they don’t have, while others who can afford

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Navigating the aged care maze

The following article first appeared in the Australian Financial Review: Deirdre Border knew it was time to talk to her 84-year-old mother, Margaret, about stepping up her care needs when she arrived to find the water to her home had been cut off. What Deirdre hadn’t realised was that Margaret had unpaid utility bills going

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