Dependable Friends | Local service

Dependable Friends

Phone: +61 414 791 919

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24.01.2022 With age comes changes and loss. This can lead to feelings of loneliness and pointlessness. Psychologist Erik Erikson described the great interest that seniors have to share their time, experience, education and love. In turn, younger generations benefit from this practical and emotional wisdom. Relationships are strengthened through storytelling, reading together, discussing hobbies, telling jokes, sharing tales of ethnic heritage, teaching about technology and many other social activities. Visits will boost the emotional and physical health of a resident and give them a sense of belonging at times when their family and friends are unable to do so. Becoming a Dependable Friend for a nursing care resident will provide a sense of purpose and enrichment to your life and theirs.

24.01.2022 Business partner Jill, discovered that there was no means to identify and employ a friend to visit, as her representative, her 93 year old mother in a nursing home. Jill lived in Western Australia, due to her work, but her Mum, Betty lives in a Nursing Home in Melbourne, was receiving few visitors and was lonely. Betty has outlived Jill’s dad, most friends and close relatives. At the same time, Jill’s friend Sue who was a medical receptionist retired and was missing her reg...ular interaction with the elderly patients at her surgery. When Sue was asked if she would consider providing a paid visit to someone in a nursing home to brighten the life of an elderly resident and supplement her income; she loved the idea. Hence, the concept of Dependable Friends was born. Dependable Friends could be retirees, semi-retirees, university students, parents of school-aged children or anyone who wants to make a difference to the life of a nursing home resident. See more

24.01.2022 Thanks to everyone who has sent love and wishes to Betty as she recovers from her broken elbow. She is now stronger, chatty and looking a lot better. We have been spoiling her with her favourite desserts and even had a picnic in her room which she loved. As Coronavirus controlment measures increase it is likely that nursing homes will close to all outside visitors within the next couple of weeks. To proactively manage risk we will continue over the next several months to collect registrations from people who would like be become a Dependable Friend and from families who would like to employ a Dependable Friend to visit their loved one. Safety is our highest priority and so we will delay launch of our service until the danger of Coronavirus has passed.

24.01.2022 We have an update for those people who have been asking about Betty's recovery from surgery after breaking her elbow. She is very appreciative of your good wishes. She has been weak since surgery, however has returned to the familiar surroundings of her nursing home. She has started to make some progress and asked us this evening to download Tolstoy's War and Peace (talking book) to her iPad. She's obviously intending to be around for quite a while longer! She was upset ...today because the carer who had fed her dinner told her to hurry up even though she was eating as quickly as she could. Unfortunately we are at work and can't be at the nursing home at mealtimes. I promised her that we will employ a Dependable Friend as soon as possible to help her with eating her meals (Lunch/ Dinner) and to keep her company. She is very excited at that prospect! If anyone in Victoria in the Ringwood/ Croydon area has submitted their registration to become a Dependable Friend or if anyone in that area would like to register, can you please email us at [email protected] and we will arrange an interview this week. See more

22.01.2022 Support and friendship. Dependable friends is a unique new service that links friends to residents in care. Please check out our website to see how it works and how it may be of value to you as a friend or you as a family member with a loved one in a Residential Care Facility. Friends can provide much needed support and advocacy for the elderly in Care.

21.01.2022 How do we describe a Dependable Friend? We're delighted to be receiving registrations from people right across Australia wanting to become Dependable Friends. Are qualifications necessary to be employed? No, its about who you are as a person. We're looking for Dependable Friends who are kind, caring, happy, responsible, dependable (of course), diverse and who genuinely care about making a difference to the life of a nursing home resident through paid visiting. ... If this sounds like you and you have an hour or more available each week, we'd love to hear from you. Please register at www.dependablefriends.com or via the sign-up button on this site. See more

18.01.2022 The 2019 Interim Report from the Australian Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety concluded that the "aged care system should not be a signifier for loss, abandonment and fear". In 2017, Ken Wyatt, the Federal Minister for Aged Care at that time, reported that tragically up to 40 per cent of people living in residential aged care did not receive any visitors. Together, with your engagement, Dependable Friends will make a difference. We are thrilled that we have... already received many registrations of interest Australia-Wide from people wanting to become Dependable Friends. Its free to register and we would love you to join us. Equally we invite expressions of interest from families or friends of residents in care (or residents themselves) who would like to employ a Dependable Friend to visit their loved one when they're unable to do so. You can register via our website or the "Sign Up" button on this site. See more

17.01.2022 In 2016 the Victorian Commissioner for Seniors Gerard Mansour produced a report on isolation and loneliness among senior Victorians. The report described that one of the most compelling drivers of a sense of value and purpose in life was directly related to the experiences of friendship, family, companionship and relationships. The experience of ageing is not always accompanied with retention of key family and friendship relationships. Children or relatives may move intersta...te or overseas. Friends may move to new areas. The communities in which we live continually change in their composition and make up. The report noted that many older people enjoy being around younger generations and that intergenerational interaction is an important element of social connectedness for older people. Dependable Friends understands the value of diversity. We welcome people who speak multiple languages, have different ethnicity, various backgrounds and experiences, age and gender variability to register as Dependable Friends See more

12.01.2022 Dependable Friends was inspired by team member Jill's 93 year old mother Betty who lives in a Nursing Home in Melbourne. Events of this past week have highlighted two additional reasons for engaging a Dependable Friend. Sadly last week Betty had a fall and has badly broken her elbow. She is awaiting surgery to repair the bone next week. Jill is unable to visit Betty in hospital due to having a severe cold and can't risk passing it on to her. Other family members have been dr...iving across Melbourne to help Betty at mealtimes because she has no mobility in the broken arm and limited mobility in the other arm. Rehabilitation after the surgery will be at Betty's nursing home, however having someone there to ensure that she is able to eat her meals will be really important. A Dependable Friend can make a world of difference to a nursing home resident at a time like this. Family members can't always be with their loved one due to illness or distance. Wishing Betty a speedy recovery from all of us at Dependable Friends. See more

12.01.2022 Thanks to University student Alesha for her message! A small team of dedicated individuals have spent a tremendous amount of time designing a service that gives families (or quite honestly anyone who is concerned about a resident) the opportunity to hook their elderly resident living in aged care up with someone to sit with them, chill, watch some movies, read some books etc. Loneliness sucks. Helplessness because you live away from a loved one in aged care sucks. But Depend...able Friends want to help. Reach out if you’re interested! You can sign up to become a Dependable Friend, you can sign up your loved one for a Dependable Friend. Also! If you’d be so kind as to share the heck out of this new service, that’d be great. See more

08.01.2022 An interview with 93 year old Betty who initiated the concept, explaining how she will use a Dependable Friend

05.01.2022 A wonderful way of bringing people together and making the life of a loved one in care so much richer. Not only does the person in the Nursing Home benefit but so does the friend who visits them. If you are young like our friend in the picture or perhaps a retiree wanting to enrich your own life plus be paid for it then you’ve found what you are looking for with this group