A new paradigm is on the horizon

• accreditation
• aged care
• aged care quality standards
• leadership
• opinion
• Royal Commission
• salutogenesis
• salutogenic

Earlier this month, aged care provider Warrigal was named Provider of the Year in the Aged and Community Services Australia National Aged Care award. Warrigal was recognised for its workplace culture and innovation, among other things, and its new customer service model, piloted at Shell Cove in NSW, is about...

Earlier this month, aged care provider Warrigal was named Provider of the Year in the Aged and Community Services Australia National Aged Care award. Warrigal was recognised for its workplace culture and innovation, among other things, and its new customer service model, piloted at Shell Cove in NSW, is about relationships, choice, a sense of purpose and a feeling of belonging.

Dementia Training Australia works with Warrigal and many other change-ready organisations across Australia on Tailored Training Packages (TTPs) which combine environmental design and staff training, and aim to bring about real, sustainable change within organisations through knowledge translation and capacity building.

All of our training is underpinned by a ‘salutogenic’ approach, which focuses on factors that support health and wellbeing, rather than the pathogenic focus on disease and illness. In the context of dementia care, a salutogenic approach is about finding opportunities for a person with dementia to live as full a life as possible.

It is to be hoped that the Royal Commission will accelerate the movement from a pathogenic approach to a salutogenic approach.

Why is this so important? Professor Pollaers put it very well in reference to the title of the workforce strategy, A matter of care.

“A matter of care is for all Australians, because the way we care for our ageing is a reflection of who we are as a nation. How we care says who we are.”