Aged care isn’t the ‘end’
Entering residential aged care does not signify the end of something, nor should it represent boredom, loneliness or helplessness, according to national award winning aged care provider, Feros Care.
Feros Care's, Sarah Marciano, pictured here with a resident, says the provider has made it its mission to always challenge the traditional thoughts and attitudes to ageing.
‘Don’t just live with us, come alive with us’ is the attitude that resonates throughout the three Feros Care residential villages on the New South Wales’ North Coast.
Feros Care is a national award winning aged care provider that is reinventing the concept of growing older and, in fact, celebrates ageing.
Sarah Marciano, Feros Care’s director of residential aged care services, says the provider has made it its mission to always challenge the traditional thoughts and attitudes to ageing, and works to help seniors to live their best life.
“People in their 80s are at the start of a new phase full of opportunities and possibilities,” Ms Marciano says.
“You shouldn’t have to leave your pet behind because it’s not possible to accommodate it. We also have trained volunteers that can help you can find new interests, a new bridge partner, get a massage, pick up some computer skills, or go to yoga,” she says.
According to Ms Marciano, entering a facility doesn’t mean severing connections with distant family or friends.
“The way to keep people happy for the rest of their lives is to help them stay connected to their family, friends and community,” she says.
Feros Care keeps people connected by using technology such as video conferencing, so residents can easily stay in touch with family, as well as participate remotely in major family events such as seeing their granddaughter’s wedding in Singapore, or talking to a son travelling in Italy.
Another example of how Feros Care brings activities and experiences to its residents includes sending a staff member to Australian painter’s Margaret Olley’s exhibition with a mobile phone on her head so they can stream the exhibition back to the residents.
“This way, people were able to experience the exhibition virtually, through our video conferencing facilities,” Ms Marciano says.
Reflecting on her own desires and interests as she ages herself, Ms Marciano says when she thinks of what she wants in an aged care facility, it’s not all that different from what she wants now.
“I’d want to remain as independent as possible. I’d want to be able to do what I wanted to do, pursue my interests, eat what I liked, go to bed when I wanted to,” she says.
