Soon, the Society will be advertising a position as Aged Care Coordinator. It will be the successful applicant’s task to undertake a similar service on behalf of the province and to make sure that every senior confrere is able to access these services.In former times Fr John Walls was appointed to be the management person to liaise between our Senior Marist Confreres and the Provincial Administration. His tasks while many were primarily to see that each Marist as he gets older has access to the proper health care, personal assistance, accommodation and hospitalisation care that he requires as and when necessary.
The person we hope to employ will have managerial skills, some experience in nursing and aged care and the ability to work with confreres and the administration to make sure that the very best care available will be found for senior Marists. Initially we imagine that the Care Coordinator will make a visit to each of our senior confreres – both those in hospitalisation care and Marian Court and Armstrong Village, and those who are generally retired or of retirement years. Each person will be interviewed, and the carer will make recommendations for them and to the administration as to what might suit the age and stage of each Marist.
Being interviewed will initially be a way for the person to get a good grasp of the task and the personalities involved in it. At some stage too there will be an evaluation of our existing old age care accommondation to see whether these facilities are what confreres require for retirement care.
With an increasing number of confreres reaching their senior years, it may be necessary to develop additional plans and facilities for more confreres and the aged care coordinator will be part of that planning too. This job is a very important one and the Society wants to make sure we get the right person for the job – someone that everyone will have confidence in and someone who will understand the particular needs of an older religious and the needs of the Society too.
A committee has been set up to interview candidates and a job description has been already drawn up. We hope to have a suitable person in place before the end of March.