COTA Queensland Peer Educators have been actively contributing to the Aged Care Reforms at both a community and system level. Peer Educators delivered 104 information sessions to over 2000 older people face-to-face in Queensland in the last financial year through the Controlling My Own Life: Making the most of CDC topic. These sessions inform participants on how to access aged care, the consumer directed care approach and the programs available, in particular Home Care Packages. The collection and recording of stories and experiences shared by participants at these sessions inform COTA’s policy and advocacy work and are a vital aspect of the program.
A number of the Peer Educators have also directly contributed to system and service development during September, sharing their findings from the sessions and from listening to older people in the community. Peer Educator Libby Knight co-presented with Program Coordinator Bronwyn Bidstrup, alongside the Department of Health and the Australian Aged Care Quality Agency, on the topic of Consumer Directed Care at the Community Care Support Network on the Sunshine Coast on 7 September. The audience consisted of 75 service providers, health professionals and government representatives. Libby confirmed that the changes and information relating to aged care is complex for a person trying to access the system. Libby referred to her experience as a ‘teacher of teachers’, noting that every sector has it’s particular ‘language’, and a role of the Peer Educator is to share this information with older people in an accessible language and format. 82.5% of forum participants reported they found the COTA Queensland session highly and very useful.
The following day, Peer Educator Judith Chapman co-presented with Bronwyn at the Brisbane North Community Aged Care Forum, organised by the Brisbane North Primary Health Network. Again the audience included service providers, health professionals and government representatives, with a full house of 200 attendees. Our session Peer education and older people’s responses to consumer directed care was ranked second most relevant topic out of eight presentations. Judith related easily with the audience; she was an Occupational Therapist during her professional working life, working with the elderly and people with disabilities in four different countries. Now as an active member of her community and having presented the CDC Peer Education session for almost 18 months, she shared comments and stories from older people. She also suggested service providers be prepared to think outside the box as clients consider and explore the kinds of services and support which would really make a difference to their health and wellbeing, and ultimately independence, in the community.
Also on 8 September, two Peer Educators – Mary Denver and Marg Greig – provided a consumer perspective at the national My Aged Care Gateway Co-Design Workshop in Brisbane. This full day workshop was one of four with the aged care sector and associated stakeholders around Australia, facilitated by the Australian Department of Health. The focus for the workshops was to elicit stakeholder feedback and discussion on top priorities for changes to the My Aged Care operating model in respect of system, process and policy. Mary brought to the table her personal experience of accessing My Aged Care for two family members, as well as her experience of listening to participants in the Peer Education sessions and working with culturally diverse communities. Marg contributed her knowledge and skills in human resource management, training and quality systems acquired through her paid work life. In addition she brought an understanding of community experiences and concerns through her five years as a COTA Queensland Peer Educator and other volunteer and consumer representative roles in the community.
The Peer Education topic Controlling My Own Life: Making the most of CDC, which is part of the COTA Australia/Home Care Today community education program, concludes at the end of 2016. This topic provides information to older people in relation to accessing aged care and support. COTA Queensland continues to receive requests for these sessions and is undertaking a review of the project in Queensland to identify ways forward in meeting the continuing information needs of older people as they access and navigate the aged care system.
