Forget Them Not

Danni Stewart of FBi Radio reflects on the state of Aged Care in Australia with her late grandmother.

This started out as a story about how dementia care can be improved. But, throughout production I found there was another question which became more prevalent - why is the aged care system so bad?

As I reflected on my grandma’s experience in residential aged care the Royal Commission hearings revealed deep seeded issues within the sector. What I found is that the current substandard conditions in Aged Care can be traced back to neoliberal thinking and the Aged Care Act 1997. Then COVID-19 began to spread through the corridors of Aged Care homes and the problems created by the Act were laid bare.

For the last months of my grandma’s life visiting was heavily restricted. I was able to say goodbye. Many families weren’t so lucky. Caring for our aging population, particularly those with dementia is one of the greatest challenges our society faces.

It’s estimated there will be one million Australians living with dementia by 2050 and it’s clear that in order to care for them the Aged Care Act needs to be reformed and the current system needs to be rebuilt. 

Supervising production from Sharon Davis. Training from the Community Media Training Organisation. Distributed by the Community Radio Network.

Produced for the 2020 CBAA National Features and Documentary Series.