Young people deserve better

Above: Villa Maria’s Austin Street facility in Alphington (Melbourne, Victoria)

By Yasmin Noone

Around 16 months ago, Kay McKenzie’s life changed forever– and not necessarily for the better. The 44 year old Victorian sales woman with two children, grandchildren and six brothers and sisters experienced a brain aneurism.

The young mother, in the prime of her life, lost the ability to walk and her short-term memory was severely compromised.

Ms McKenzie moved into a transitional rehabilitation facility for a number of months but of course, ‘rehab’ was not going to last forever. Crunch time came a few months ago when the family had to decide where Ms McKenzie was going to live on a permanent basis.

Ms McKenzie’s sister, Christine Neil, explained how, at the time, she thought there were only two options available to her: Ms McKenzie would either have to move into a residential aged care facility and live with older people who had different needs, tastes and life experiences, and required a different type of care; or she would have to be catered for by one of her siblings in their own home.

“I honestly thought to myself that an aged care facility is where she would end up,” said Ms Neil.

“Making the decision was quite startling actually. I did look at giving up work myself to look after Kay as an [aged care facility] was not somewhere I wanted to place her.

“I was determined that she wouldn’t go into aged care because that wasn’t for her.

“I just thought, ‘I can’t do that to her’. Even though she’s got a brain injury, is wheelchair bound and has memory loss, I knew aged care wasn’t the place for her.”

Lucky for Ms McKenzie and her family, Ms Neil said, Villa Maria’s Austin Street was up and running.

Established one year ago, Austin Street was Victoria’s first purpose-specific residence for young people with an acquired brain injury.

Offering high and complex needs care for people under 50 years old, Neil eventually decided (after 12 site visits) that Austin Street would become Ms McKenzie’s new home.

“I turned down the offer to move Kay there at first. We were thinking more of ourselves and the distance [between where we live and Austin Street] rather than Kay. But then we came to realise that there was just nothing like it out there.

“Austin Street was the only residential facility set up to take care of Kay with her needs. It’s more luck on my part that Kay got the opportunity to move there.”

Ms McKenzie recently moved into Austin Street, bringing its number of occupants up to 10.

Ms Neil said that her sister’s move into Austin Street changed her life once again – but this time for the better. Ms McKenzie now receives personalised care focused on rehabilitation, gets to be around people her own age, goes to see bands, enjoys local café culture, visits the theatre and participates in same sort of activities that she used to before the injury.

“For Kay, the move has just been wonderful, I know it will improve her quality of life with access to therapies, home cooked meals and opportunities to get out into the community and socialise with other people.

“When I last visited her, she looked the best she’s ever looked. Taking care of her appearance has always been important to Kay. Jenni (the Austin Street manager) has been helping her apply her make-up, for example, and its activities like that which add a bit of normality to her life. I hope she can get to a point where she can do a lot more for herself.

“The reality is that at Austin Street, she is with young people and the staff there are trying to teach her some of the day-to-day basics again…It’s wonderful. I must say that this is now the first time since Kay’s injury that I really feel comfortable [about her care]. She looks brilliant and I know that she’s been cared for.”
 
Ms Neil said “there’s no comparison” between this type of care for young people with an acquired brain injury and residential aged care services for people aged under 65. “There’s not enough of these places around. It gives the young people back their independence.”

Above: Austin Street manager, Jenni Williams, out an about in the community with resident Correy.

First birthday celebrations

This Thursday, Villa Maria staff, Austin Street residents, family members, friends and the local Alphington community will join to celebrate the one year anniversary of the arrival of Austin Street’s first resident.

Austin Street manager, Jenni Williams, said the past year had gone by so quickly, with many positive milestones made in terms of resident’s physical and emotional wellbeing.

“It has been an exciting year,” said Ms Williams. “We now have our tenth and final resident, our first volunteer started in June, and of course the adoption of Daisy, our Jack Russell cross Chihuahua, has seen some great results in terms of pet therapy and companionship for residents.

“One of our residents recently chose what type of drink he wanted. Although it’s very incremental, making a conscious choice about what he did and didn’t like was a big step and his family were very happy.

“Three of the guys are also going to the gym out in the community, and one of our residents, Sarah, is more mobile; going from a wheelchair to using a walking frame which has been a great boost for her confidence and self-esteem.”

Most importantly, Ms Williams said, the past year has provided many people aged under 50 with hope –hope that they would be able to live in an age-appropriate home and hope that their age-specific needs would be met.

“All of our residents are at risk of entering a nursing home or were living in a nursing home.

“In aged care, there is a focus on personal and medical care. Here, we see a rehab opportunity and say, ‘Let’s focus on that and bring out [their abilities].’

“At Austin Street, there is also a really strong focus on ensuring that young people participate in age-appropriate activities and they still have access to the community.

“A lot of our guys still go to the pub, the football…and the disco. If they were in an aged care facility, they would more than likely not have access to those age-appropriate activities.

“In a nutshell, we really listen and pay attention to what an individual person wants to experience in their life and what type of activities they want to do that is meaningful to them that also includes their family and friends.

“…It’s important to have more residential facilities like Austin Street.”