Question

Otto is 92 years of age. He lives in his own home with daily support from a community based aged care service to assist with personal care, housework and shopping. He is gradually losing his hearing, but frequently misplaces his hearing aid; he is losing his eyesight and is unable to see objects clearly at a distance or to read small print; he had a minor stroke last year which left him with a speech impediment; and when he went to renew his driver’s licence this year he was not assessed as fit to drive. His nieces Jess and Melissa have been trying to persuade Otto to move into residential aged care. They are his closest relatives and are often called on to deal with minor emergencies and crises. Otto does not want to move and is refusing to cooperate with the ACAT assessment organised by Jess and Melissa. He is very angry and wants to prevent them from making decisions about his life. Jess and Melissa have contacted their state guardianship and administration authority to ask about having a guardian appointed to decide where Otto should live. He wants to continue to live in his own home and to die in his own home. Otto has approached an aged care advocacy service asking for support.

Question - Explain the potential barriers to Otto’s capacity to advocate for himself and describe the resources a worker could use to address each potential barrier. (Approx. 150 words that you can present in a bullet list if you wish).

Answer 1

Disabled older adults always lack freedom for choosing their place where to live. Advocacy service options involve in their issues and support consumers to choose the facility and preferred setting other than their own homes or less restrictive settings. potential barriers to ottos capacity to advocate for himself is he is aged(90 years) and his disabled with his hearing aids, speech, eyesight and history of a minor stroke last year. practitioner skill training for disabled older adults improve their self help and safety skills that improve their ability to live independently. ongoing assistance and monitoring identify older people barrier to self care. smart home technology make solution to fulfil the goal with ottos option without moving from own home to restrictive settings by 24 hours staffing. Specpifc sensors can monitor older people activity, this specific type of passive monitoring make patient and family comfort and it also avoid financial burden with care.