The Need for Disability Services in Regional SA
Fleurieu here we come!
sacare has finally launched In-home Community Support and THRIVE Program in the region.
Over the last seven months, I have had the opportunity to be the Project Lead on how sacare could support the regional areas. The Fleurieu Peninsula has always been a location sacare has wanted to provide services to. This has been a great experience identifying the service needs of the Fleurieu region and working with internal departments at sacare to create the services. I have had the opportunity to meet some amazing Families and Participants, Aged Care and Disability Providers, Support Coordinators and Councils and built some great relationships.
The Fleurieu is a real mixture between a beachside town, rural farming, an ageing population, but also a growing population. In the past, the Fleurieu has been known for an aging population, but this is changing. With the financial pressures of rental and housing options in Adelaide regional areas close to Adelaide are becoming popular among younger families. But where are the services for the growing demand?
One thing is very clear from my time in the Fleurieu whether you speak to the local NDIS Participant and Families, Council members and Support Coordinator. They want good quality services with reliable and stable staff. They want to have choices about services like the metropolitan counterpart and they don’t want a waiting list of six months to one year for services.
When identifying some of the biggest challenges in regional areas they include staffing – finding reliable and stable staff that have the right qualifications and value set for the job, accessible transport and housing options that are suitable for the disability community not aged care sector.
Where to from here for sacare… we have purchased the sacare Hub in Victor Harbor. This will be our office for all In-home community support training and recruitment. We will also have our award-winning THRIVE social participation program available from the hub, and later next year allied health.
We have a large office and are really interested in making this space a collaborative place for services. I invite services and programs to reach out to me to discuss this further. We want services in the Fleurieu and sacare wants to support the community with different options and choices.
If you are truly genuine about wanting to support the community, I implore organisations to look into regional areas to assist communities. Yes, there are big challenges as discussed above, but if more services support regional/rural areas it means better quality services and more choice for people living in those areas.