Post by Banjo on Aug 13, 2011 8:20:49 GMT 7
Cost of care the latest battle for former POW
FORMER prisoner of war, 101-year-old pensioner Jessie Duijm, had to fight two court battles and wrestle with the nation's banks to find the $3000 a week she needs to fund her care and stay out of a nursing home.
Her case highlights one of the problems with aged care which the Productivity Commission seeks to rectify in its Affordable Aged Care report released this week.
The commission's call for a government-backed reverse mortgage scheme to pay for aged care would be the answer to Jessie's problems.
A bank gave her a reverse mortgage worth 45 per cent of the value of her Sydney home in Como, but the money is due to run out around her 102nd birthday in November.
She has told her grandniece she will stop eating until she dies because she doesn't want to go back into an institutionalised nursing home that reminds her of the prison where she was held by the Japanese during World War II. Jessie was placed in a high-care nursing home in 2008 after a stroke left her unable to walk, but when she recovered and regained her speech her request to return home was disregarded and the nursing home assessed her as not having mental capacity.
She was rescued by her grandniece Justine Starvis, who flew from Melbourne to attend Jessie's 100th birthday celebrations.
"We were told she couldn't speak and didn't have mental capacity but when we got in touch she said, 'Thank God you got me, I'm being denied human rights'," Ms Starvis said.
She took Jessie to an independent psychiatrist, who certified that the centenarian had full mental capacity. "She told me she'd suffered so much through life, all she wanted was to live peacefully at home, die at home and be with her beloved dog, Daisy," Ms Starvis said.
But before Jessie could go back to her own home, the Public Guardian required that she raise funds to pay for the 24-hour care now being provided by the agency Private Care in her own home.
Ms Starvis approached care assistance charities such as the Red Cross, Wesley Mission, the Salvation Army and Hammond Care -- organisations to which Jessie had donated over the years -- with no success.
A community bank refused to provide Jessie with a reverse mortgage on her home to fund her aged care because her life expectancy was too short for them to make a reasonable profit on the loan. She finally found a bank willing to lend 45 per cent of the value of her home; that money is due to run out later this year.
"I'm very worried about next year because the banks won't give me more money," Jessie says.
Ms Starvis says the Productivity Commission's call for a government-backed reverse mortgage scheme is "exciting" and even if it is introduced too late to help Jessie, it might help others.
Private Care managing director Jillian Conroy welcomes the commission's emphasis on unlocking the equity in people's homes to pay for aged care.
www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/cost-of-care-the-latest-battle-for-former-pow/story-e6frg6nf-1226114069105
FORMER prisoner of war, 101-year-old pensioner Jessie Duijm, had to fight two court battles and wrestle with the nation's banks to find the $3000 a week she needs to fund her care and stay out of a nursing home.
Her case highlights one of the problems with aged care which the Productivity Commission seeks to rectify in its Affordable Aged Care report released this week.
The commission's call for a government-backed reverse mortgage scheme to pay for aged care would be the answer to Jessie's problems.
A bank gave her a reverse mortgage worth 45 per cent of the value of her Sydney home in Como, but the money is due to run out around her 102nd birthday in November.
She has told her grandniece she will stop eating until she dies because she doesn't want to go back into an institutionalised nursing home that reminds her of the prison where she was held by the Japanese during World War II. Jessie was placed in a high-care nursing home in 2008 after a stroke left her unable to walk, but when she recovered and regained her speech her request to return home was disregarded and the nursing home assessed her as not having mental capacity.
She was rescued by her grandniece Justine Starvis, who flew from Melbourne to attend Jessie's 100th birthday celebrations.
"We were told she couldn't speak and didn't have mental capacity but when we got in touch she said, 'Thank God you got me, I'm being denied human rights'," Ms Starvis said.
She took Jessie to an independent psychiatrist, who certified that the centenarian had full mental capacity. "She told me she'd suffered so much through life, all she wanted was to live peacefully at home, die at home and be with her beloved dog, Daisy," Ms Starvis said.
But before Jessie could go back to her own home, the Public Guardian required that she raise funds to pay for the 24-hour care now being provided by the agency Private Care in her own home.
Ms Starvis approached care assistance charities such as the Red Cross, Wesley Mission, the Salvation Army and Hammond Care -- organisations to which Jessie had donated over the years -- with no success.
A community bank refused to provide Jessie with a reverse mortgage on her home to fund her aged care because her life expectancy was too short for them to make a reasonable profit on the loan. She finally found a bank willing to lend 45 per cent of the value of her home; that money is due to run out later this year.
"I'm very worried about next year because the banks won't give me more money," Jessie says.
Ms Starvis says the Productivity Commission's call for a government-backed reverse mortgage scheme is "exciting" and even if it is introduced too late to help Jessie, it might help others.
Private Care managing director Jillian Conroy welcomes the commission's emphasis on unlocking the equity in people's homes to pay for aged care.
www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/cost-of-care-the-latest-battle-for-former-pow/story-e6frg6nf-1226114069105