Dear government: We will take it no longer
A new social media campaign is motivating providers and the community to go online, say enough is enough and demand more for the sector.
The nation’s care providers, residents and the entire community are being asked to take a stand against the government, against aged care being constantly ignored and against the sector being used as a whipping post.
Fed up and frustrated by the government’s inaction to adequately reform the sector, BapistCare has launched a new social media campaign, Get the FACS! to hopefully ‘Find an Aged Care Solution’ (FACS).
BaptistCare’s CEO, Dr Lucy Morris, said that the new long-term campaign launched last week aims to motivate all age groups to start an online conversation about ageing and aged care, and to get people to act to bring about much-needed, sector-wide change from below.
“Governments are so used to ignoring the aged care sector,” Dr Morris said.
“They are not listening to and understanding what the issues actually are about…They are so used to the community and the providers just putting up with [inaction].
“[As a sector], we are so used to saying yes and doing whatever we can with minimum input and finances, so that for us to stand up and say that this is not good enough is a real challenge.”
The campaign, Dr Morris said, has not been timed in line with the federal government election. Instead, it was created as a reaction to the poor 1.7 per cent indexation funding increase and recent inaction to reform the sector despite many empty promises to do so.
“The [government] treats the sector in the same way as they marginalise seniors. Be grateful for what you get, don’t make a fuss, don’t rock the boat and if you are good we won’t withdraw your privileges.”
With one clear message to the government, Dr Morris said that enough is enough: “You can’t go on using as your whipping post.”
“Seniors are not a medical problem and not a health problem. All of us face ageing. We should see it as a social issue.”
Dr Morris urges the community to go online and question what it is we have to do now to provide our seniors with “the right to live while they are alive”.
“I ask this with respect and with great frustration,” she said. “ I ask this of the community. I am not just pointing the finger at the government as the government does what the people say. I am asking the community to engage in a conversation about aged care.
“It matters for my children because as the demographic of seniors swells I am getting indigestion and it won’t be long before we can’t take another senior. We have to have the debate now.”
“I want them to email, blog and Twitter these questions and answers. Get in touch with the politicians, debate with your friends, debate on the radio and in newspaper, and start to say that this is not good enough. We need action now.”
The campaign will run alongside the Campaign for Care of Older Australians’ (CCOA) Grand Plan and although it focuses on issues that face the whole of Australia, it also advocates specifically for change in Western Australia.
Join in the conversation on aged care online on Facebook (GettheFACS) and Twitter (@AgedCareFACS) and comment on the blog (gettheFACSagedcare.blogspot.com).
