KeepAble has developed a new e-Learning module focused on helping you to understand the differences between ‘traditional’ home care and Wellness and Reablement approaches.
Changes across both in-home and residential aged care services are underway to benefit how care is delivered. Stay up to date with news and developments of the changes due in 2024.
Compiled by a team of dedicated professionals, KeepAble is an online collaborative hub for practical content and free resources that supports home and community care service providers to deliver wellness and reablement approaches.
These insights and ideas aim to assist providers to work with, and empower older people to optimise their independence and live life well for longer.
Recognised as influential by gaining two ACSA nominations in their Aged Care Awards 2021 celebrating outstanding achievements and contributions made by organisations, KeepAble continues to grow and develop with the help of co-design from the sector to become the ‘go to’ resources for wellness and reablement advice and support.
Find out more about KeepAble by watching this video.
Working together to bring wellness and reablement to life
KeepAble aims to do what the name suggests. We’re dedicated to finding and sharing evidence-based research, resources, and real-life stories about ageing well, so older people can live well for longer.
According to research, the key to ageing well and living a good quality of life for longer is to compress functional decline by living more healthy years rather than just living longer. This can be achieved by:
moving regularly – through everyday activities and exercise
staying socially connected
maintaining a balanced diet, and
having a sense of purpose.
Let’s collaborate
Let us know how you’re using the resources on KeepAble and whether there is anything else you would like to see or require, so we can make sure KeepAble works for you.
Also, we hope you will become part of the voice of KeepAble by registering with us on the ‘Count Me In’ formto stay in the loop with the latest information and updates in the aged care sector, help review the latest resources from KeepAble before general release, and join our community of industry professional contributors.
Redefine what’s possible with KeepAble, to add more good days and make every opportunity matter.
Latest news in age care
Have you recently read an interesting article about ageing? Send us a link via our Contact Us, Feedback and Comments form below.
This paper provides an overview of the proposed design of the new Support at Home Program with the delivery of a reformed and improved in-home aged care program scheduled by 1 July 2024.
Review a summary of the new program for in-home aged care from the department of health here. There is also a discussion paper for contributions from the aged care sector to get involved.
Pru Goward is a former sex discrimination commissioner and NSW Liberal Minister. She is a professor at Western Sydney University and a director with Taylor Fry, Data Analysts and Actuaries. In September 2020, she wrote this opinion piece for the Sydney Morning Herald.
Resources for Home Care Providers
Here are some useful resources to help your organisation deliver Wellness and Reablement.
This guide has been developed so people can make informed decisions when choosing assistive technology and home modification solutions. Review the eBook online.
This page provides links to all our resources for download on one page. We do suggest reading the supporting articles however to gain a true understanding of the accompanying resource.
For those accessing aged care supports, setting goals and planning towards achieving them provides the person a voice, making them and what they wish to achieve the focal point of the support being provided.
The aim of this guide is to build awareness and knowledge among Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP) service providers and the broader aged care sector of the benefits of Assistive Technology (AT) and the role it plays as part of a Wellness and Reablement service delivery approach with improved outcomes for older people.
Assistive Technology Essentials Part 2 is a guide for consumers, families, practitioners, and the home support sector that support them. Based on the best available evidence and extensive practice knowledge, this resource is a valuable knowledge translation tool in the rapidly evolving landscape of assistive technology.
Initial conversations undertaken with clients need to explore how they previously socialised, what prevents them from returning to previous activities, how long has it been, and how they envisage their social network to look in the future.
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General FAQ for KeepAble
We answer your most common questions about Wellness and Reablement.
Wellness is an approach that builds on the strengths, capacity, and goals of individuals and encourages actions that promote a level of independence in daily living tasks, as well as reducing risks to living safely at home. It is ‘doing with’ people ‘not doing for’ them.
Reablement involves time-limited interventions that are targeted towards a person’s specific goal or desired outcome to adapt to some functional loss or regain confidence and capacity to resume activities.
Wellness and Reablement are closely aligned as the same principles apply to both but Reablement is time-limited, focused support with the aim to get a person back to doing everyday tasks themselves.
Service providers are required to work with older people to maximise their independence and enable them to remain living safely in their home and the community. This means that services should generally not undertake tasks that the client can do safely themselves. The longer the client avoids reliance on ongoing services, the longer they are likely to maintain their functional independence.
The approach known as Wellness and Reablement builds on people’s strengths and goals to promote greater independence and autonomy. Offering care that focuses on individual client goals and recognises the importance of client participation is fundamental to the Commonwealth Home Support Program.
Traditional models of service delivery that focus on what a client can’t do, rather than what they can, tend to lead to an over-reliance on services by clients, which has been linked with accelerated functional decline and an increase in dependence on support.
Research suggests that people living with dementia can maintain their functional ability for longer, improve aspects of their day-to-day lives, or reduce the rate of decline in their ability, through specific approaches that are consistent with the term ‘reablement’. A focus on improving or maintaining functional ability may also lead to other beneficial outcomes, such as improved quality of life and independence, or the ability to remain living at home for longer.
The Team at KeepAble has set out to present facts and information about the science of ageing well and the importance of creating opportunities for consumers of aged care services to continue doing the things they enjoy and to live better for longer.
As the Tokyo Olympics began, knowing what it takes to succeed at any level we choose to participate in, is perhaps a timely reminder for us to ask questions about our level of performance in the aged care sector.
Once upon a time, there were some inevitabilities to old age, such as losing independence, quality of life, and worsening chronic diseases. The good news is that every individual has a choice to change that.
Independent Living Assessment Inc. recently launched KeepAble as a new online Wellness and Reablement knowledge and resource hub for home care providers, people working in the aged care sector, clients, and communities across Australia.