Minister Praises WA Jewish Aged Care Service

Federal Minister for Ageing, Mrs Justine Elliot today visited the Perth Jewish Aged Home Society at Dianella to praise the service and mark the festival of Shavuot.

Shavuot marks the day the Torah was given to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. It is also a time to celebrate the harvest season and eat dairy foods.

Mrs Elliot praised the centre for its work with people with dementia; for its safe environment; and the special care provided by staff and volunteers.

“The Australian Government appreciates that aged care providers like the Perth Jewish Aged Home Society and their staff are in the frontline - giving high-standard care to frail older people, including those with dementia,” Mrs Elliot said.

Mrs Elliot said there are currently 22,000 people living with dementia in Western Australia – this will reach 79,000 by 2050. (Access Economics Report - Feb 2005).

The Access Economics Report also commented that in 2050 there will be more people with dementia in Perth's northern suburbs than there were in the whole of the State in 2004.

The Perth Jewish Aged Home Society Inc. is a charitable not-for-profit organisation which has been providing residential aged care since 1961.

The aged care homes run by the society, the Hoffman Nursing Home and the Carl and Sadie Cohen Hostel provide 35 high-care beds and 36 low-care beds, as well as the 15 special-care beds for dementia patients. All are funded by the Australian Government.

Perth Jewish Aged Home Society is the sole provider of aged care for the Jewish community. They also provide other Home and Community Care services.

The service has provided a kosher Meals-on-Wheels service for the past 10 years.

In the 2006-07 year, the Australian Government contributed annual funding of almost $1.5 million to the Perth Jewish Aged Home Society’s Hoffman Nursing Home – and almost $900,000 to its Carl and Sadie Cohen Hostel.

Across Australia there are 200,000 people affected by dementia – including about one in four people aged 85 years and over.

Mrs Elliot said this is expected to double in the next 20 years as Australia’s population ages. Today, there are 2.7 million Australians aged 65 and over. Within 40 years that number will almost triple to around 7.2 million.

Mrs Elliot said: “Dementia is a national health priority. The Government is committed to finding out more about dementia to improve the lives of those with dementia and their carers.”

Mrs Elliot recently announced that the Australian Government would provide another $9 million to 15 dementia-related research projects through the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Last week Mrs Elliot’s announced a plan to consult on a national dementia symbol for use on medi-tag bracelets and new measures requiring nursing homes to report missing residents – to further protect people with dementia.

Commonwealth Recurrent Funding
The Hoffman Nursing Home received $1,473,616.42 in the 2005/06 financial year and $1,466,202.41 in the 2006/07 financial year.

The Carl and Sadie Cohen Hostel received $929,225.29 in the 2005/06 financial year and $893,355.29 in the 2006/07 financial year.

The facts
There are almost 2.8 million Australians aged 65 and over. Within 40 years that number will more than double, to around 7 million.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics has predicted that the number of people over 100 years of age will increase from 2,860 today to 78,000 people by 2055.

In Western Australia, the median age in 2006 was slightly lower than the national figure, 36.6 years. But the Perth suburb of Dianella was ageing faster than the state or the nation, as its median age was 40.

In Dianella in 2006, 18.8 per cent of the area’s population was aged 65 years and over in 2006, compared with 13.3 per cent in Australia.