#sanitation

Hygiene, sanitation and homelessness in the community

/ trinaopso

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Recently Mission Australia called for the Federal Government to build 60,000 additional social housing dwellings following the release of its 2017 report that showed homelessness is a growing problem for older Australians.

The report, Ageing and homelessness: Solutions for a growing problem, noted that the number of people aged over 55 years who are reaching out for assistance from specialist homelessness support services is continuing to grow, with older women particularly vulnerable to later-in-life homelessness.

Homelessness affects other areas of life, such as general and mental health, hygiene and ready access to proper sanitation facilities, issues that only become more pronounced the older the homeless person gets.

Even those still living in their own homes will sometimes require assistance with daily living tasks, including hygiene, showering and toileting, as the upswing in in-home support services shows.

Conversation starter

Have you – or someone for whom you care – experienced challenges with managing hygiene, sanitation or homelessness? Were you, or they, able to access assistance? How could the situation have been improved for them and others? 

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Hygiene, sanitation

/ trinaopso

P-hygiene-B&W-older-hands

Whether the issue be about showering, toileting, dental care, nail length and cleanliness, management of medical devices such as hearing aids, daily wound care or adequate movement to prevent pressure sores that can eventually be deadly, many families and residents have concerns about how hygiene and sanitation are managed in aged care facilities.

One NSW Central Coast family’s tragic story underscores the consequences of inattention to basic hygiene standards. [Warning: graphic image in this story.]

Conversation starter

Have you or a loved one witnessed hygiene or sanitation issues in an aged care facility? How long was it before a family member of the resident concerned was made aware of the issue? How was the issue brought to the attention of the facility’s staff? What was the response? Did the matter have to be raised on more than one occasion? What were the consequences for the person receiving care? What other impacts were there? Was the situation so severe that the resident was moved to another facility?

Have your say on aged care-2