From the Consultations of the Community Affairs Inquiry into Ageing with Disability

A BREATH OF FRESH AIR (Compliments of Estelle Shields)

Philip Farrow is from Bedford, one of South Australia's best known and most diverse service providers. It is 65 years old. They have 800 people in supported employment, 1900 in open employment, 160 in supported accommodation and 100 in day programs. 80 people live in group homes and another 80 - nearly 90 - live in a congregate setting that Phillip refuses to call an institution. They have MEMBERS of whom 80 or 90 turn up to meetings every month or so. Farrow says the members "provide us with some useful insight into what is going on in the disability field".

Bedford has done research among the older people in supported employment. This research has indicated that there is "an expectation among them that they would still be able to come to work to meet their friends because of the social interaction." Even the ones who have retired "still gravitate back to work". 

The congregate care complex is known as Balyana. One quarter of the residents are in their 50's and a "handful" are older. Phillip speaks about the place:

"Our people find it useful to be at the centre because they have social interaction with the various staff and people as they come and go from the centre. We are fortunate that the centre is not only an accommodation complex. We also run a conference facility out of it. So there is quite a bit of movement of people, with people from the general community coming to and fro. There are activities like that. We also have a network of various recreational types of pursuits. People in our accommodation services are also able to go off on a camp or to the pictures or whatever else in small groups or larger...

"I was particularly impressed by the comment made earlier about the fact that buildings alone do not make an institution or whatever the setting is. It is the policy constructs. It is the way people interact. It is the support the organization provides. It is the way the community embraces it. We have people from schools walking across the grounds of our complex as they are going to and from school. Those sorts of things create a little bit of a sense of community engagement.

"In the congregate setting for eighty we have fifty living in single independent motel type apartments and then another thirty or so around the perimetre of the property with several hectares, living in group homes. There are three of four people on average living in each of those. Everyone has their own bedroom and ensuite type facility. One of the reasons we have been looking at different options is the need for us to upgrade the property. It has been around for a number of decades and needs to be upgraded. At the front we have a very large oval, for want of a better word, and we are looking at ways of creating different configurations. One of the things we have been looking at is whether or not there are opportunities to have some form of accommodation for people with disability and their families living in close proximity, so that there can be longer term relationship and networks set up that way.

"We have also debated how far we should go in terms of moving into community based accommodation. We currently have a number of houses being built around metropolitan and regional Adelaide. One of the things that has emerged as part of that process and through feedback from family members is that sometimes when people leave our larger setting and move into the community, they do not necessarily interact with their neighbours and do not do some things they wish to do as often as they would like, and there have been occasions when people have wanted to go back to our larger setting for those reasons and for greater security. Basically, there are very few constraints on people in that setting; it does not fit the typical institutional model, if I can put it that way. People can come and go as they like; they can have friends over.

The interview ends with Phillip Farrow pointing out that they have a relationship of trust with the families and that the families monitor the proceedings very closely. Also that they work in a setting of careful checks and balances, audits and the like, with the funding bodies.

Estelle's comment : there are still some service providers who listen to the wishes of their families and respond accordingly.