Family Connections

Our drop-in support team can assist people with a wide-range of tasks, including personal care, domestic assistance, gardening and transport. Below we hear about Doug and his relationship with Peter that started as a simple transport service has evolved into a journey of discovery for both men.

Peter loves spending time with his children, but after a recent operation his ability to get up and about, is that much harder and he finds that his energy levels are not what they used to be. Peter is fiercely independent and initially refused any outside help. Over time Peter realised that he couldn’t rely on his children visiting him all the time and it would be easier if he could visit them occasionally.

Peter reluctantly accepted transport from Quality Health Care twice a fortnight to visit his children. We paired Peter with Doug an older community worker with an interest in the Australian Armed Forces. This pairing was deliberate as Peter was a well-known Professor at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre and decorated military historian. After a great deal of skepticism Peter soon accepted Doug and he was willing to accept support beyond just transport.

Doug now supports Peter on a weekly basis and in fact most recently Peter and Doug have been travelling around NSW Military Museums with an exhibition of medals and photographs commemorating Australia’s campaign in East Timor.

Almost 200,000 Australians are now accessing National Disability Insurance Scheme, new figures show, but continued challenges with the speed of roll-out and the resolution of appeals is reviving calls to remove the arbitrary cap on disability agency staff.

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