Central Coast Magazines Home & Lifestyle Spring 2024

“As people age, for a variety of reasons, certain things that they do in their life can become more difficult,” Fiona Sanders, General Manager of Salvos Home Care, explains. “This might be because of declining mobility, or because of the way the house is set up, or the usual social support network is no longer available, or possibly even because they’re becoming a little bit forgetful. So, the idea of tapping into a funded home care service is just to make life easier.” Salvos Home Care, The Salvation Army Aged Care’s in-home care division, offers a range of services to support clients to live independently in their own home. The service works with clients and their families to develop personalised plans based on individual need, which can be adjusted at any time and are focused on enhancing a client’s independence, health and wellbeing. In terms of the services provided by Salvos Home Care, Fiona notes that there are a vast range of options available to meet the unique needs of each client. “We provide a full range of services at Salvos Home Care; it’s a bit of a one-stop-shop,” Fiona says. “We work with our clients to coordinate whatever services they might need.” Fiona goes on to say that the most common services for older people are domestic assistance and gardening. “These are the sort of things that people struggle with, perhaps before anything else. It might be hanging the washing on the line, mowing the lawns and weeding, or keeping the house nice and clean and tidy, it might be making the bed,” she notes. “The next item is probably around social support; assisting people to go shopping, or to access community services to do the things that they may enjoy,” Fiona says. “It might be to go to a social group, take them to church, or take them on an outing.” Other popular services provided include physiotherapy, podiatry, personal care, such as showering Support at Home with Salvos Home Care

people, helping them to dress, and clinical care such as wound care and helping people with medications. When considering home care, the first step is to call My Aged Care and register, Fiona states. “There’s no obligation once you do it. Then, based on what you feel your needs might be, you need to have an ACAT [“Aged Care Assessment Team”] assessment. The Aged Care Assessment Team will come and assess you and talk to you about the things you find difficult. They will then make suggestions for what services might be available to assist you in the future, and what sort of funding is available.” When considering what makes Salvos Home Care unique in its delivery of care, Fiona reflects on the organisation’s long history in caring for people. “We’ve been providing care for over 140 years at The Salvation Army and our Home Care division is diverse,” she says. “All our staff are fully qualified. They participate in regular training; they are police checked and we’ve got a great team of support staff to make sure that the team are well looked after and that they care for people properly in the home.”

Fiona Sanders GM

Salvos Home Care provide services in the Central Coast. To learn more, you can call them on 1300 111 227 or email them at agedcare. enquiries@salvationarmy.org.au.

How long do pets sleep on Average? C ats sleep for 12 to 16 hours on average, but they don’t do it for long periods like humans. They do it by dozing in catnaps. Catnaps allow your cat to rest without falling into a deep sleep, snoozing for just 20 minutes at a time. This way, they can still respond to any potential threats or alerts without being caught unaware. Domestic cats don’t need to be as alert as wild cats or their feral family members, but their sleep cycle is programmed in their DNA. A cat’s age also impacts the amount of sleep they get each day. Kittens and senior cats sleep way more than their teen and adult counterparts. Kittens are growing and digesting, letting their bones and muscles do their work while they rest. Senior cats slow down naturally with age as their joints and bones get a little achier. You might notice these changes with your feline friend over time, but they’re nothing to worry about. On average, most dogs spend about 50% of their day sleeping— about 12 hours in a 24-hour period. Puppies, large-breed dogs, and older dogs may sleep more, while small-breed dogs and working dogs may sleep less. In addition to the 50% of their day spent sleeping, dogs will then spend another 30% of their awake hours “loafing.” Just like with humans, loafing is when a dog is awake but not doing much of anything—just hanging out. Typically, loafing time is spent lying down, and generally enjoying being lazy. So, that comes out to a whopping 80% of the doggy day being spent not doing much of anything at all. Other reasons pets may sleep more than normal include illness, pain, boredom or health issues. Pets may sleep more I they are in a comfortable and safe environment.