Home and Community Care

Assessment and Case Management

Timboon & District Healthcare Service employs a full time Assessment Officer and Case Manager. When Timboon & District Healthcare Service receives a referral for you the Assessment Officer will contact you within 3 working days to make arrangements for an appointment to discuss your requirements.

Referral information will be helpful to the Assessment Officer when assessing your needs for Home and Community Care services.

The Assessment process is comprehensive and may take upto 1 hour. During your assessment the Assessment Officer will ascertain how best to meet your needs and advise whether services may be provided.

You are welcome to have other parties present during this meeting, but it is important that you are aware that some of the questions are of a personal nature and may be sensitive.

Once you have been accepted as a client of the HACC services the Assessment Officer will provide ongoing case management to ensure that the services continue to meet your ongoing needs.

Delivered Meals

Meals on Wheels in available to any person who, for reasons of age, disability, chronic or temporary illness, is unable to cope with cooking duties in order to maintain an adequate diet. Meals may be provided for a few days, a few weeks, or indefinitely to meet an individual?s needs. The cost of the meal is kept as low as possible, and reviewed annually.

To apply for meals, contact the Assessment Officer on (03) 55586033.

A friend or relative may apply on your behalf, or your doctor, or hospital or district nurse may refer you. Special diets such as diabetic, weight reduction, low fat or low cholesterol are catered for. More than one family member in a household may have the meals, if deemed appropriate.

Meals are delivered hot between 11.30am and 1.00pm to those people who reside in town and you must be home to receive your meal unless alternative arrangements have been made. Meals will not be left if no contact is made and meals will not be left in eskies or other containers, due to food safety regulations.

Cobden volunteers are able to provide meals seven days a week. However, Timboon is only able to provide meals Monday to Friday. Frozen meals can be delivered to cover a weekend shortfall.

Clients living outside the town boundaries may receive a week or a few days supply of frozen meals by arrangement with other services such as district nursing if they are visiting the home, or via the Community Care worker. Alternatively, a friend or relative may collect and deliver meals to an isolated client.

The volunteers who deliver the meals are happy to pass on any suggestions you would like to make about the service. Any changes or cancellations to your meals must be made by contacting the Assessment Officer on (03) 55586033 or Timboon Kitchen on (03) 55586027 or Cobden Kitchen on (03) 55953122.

The meal consists of soup, main course and dessert as well as either fruit or fruit juice. The menu is varied over four weeks, on a rotating basis. If the client is receiving frozen meals, instructions on the storage, thawing and heating methods will be provided.

Domestic Assistance

Community Care Workers will assist you with a variety of tasks which you may have difficulty in managing. The aim of this service is to maintain your independence whilst living in the comfort and security of your own home. These may include:

Cleaning of:

Occasional tasks, which may be performed include:

Home Maintenance

Home Maintenance is available to frail aged and disabled residents. The service provides lawn mowing on a 4-6 weekly rotating basis (depending upon seasonal variations). Also provided is the 'Handyman Service', which attends to a broad range of the minor repairs and modifications, both inside and outside the home, which do not require a tradesperson, such as:

NOTE: This service is only available whilst the client is living in his or her own home. It is not intended to provide tasks for the purpose of beautification, but is aimed at attending to tasks that are for maintenance of client safety in and around the home.

Personal Care

Community Care Workers have been trained to assist people with their personal care tasks:

Respite Care

Respite care is provided to families and carers with extra demands of caring for someone who has a disability, which may be intellectual, physical or sensory. Respite Care is also provided for the terminally ill and for carers of family members with dementia. Respite may be accessed either 'in home' or in a appropriate facility - 'facility based'. The Assessment Officer will assist you with booking for the 'facility based' by referring you to the coordinator at Commonwealth Carer Respite and other independent facilities.

The time allocated for respite varies and is assessed on the basis of client need and resources available. Where Timboon & District Healthcare Service is unable to fulfil your needs, the Assessment Officer is able to refer you to a number of other agencies.

Families needing a short break from their usual routine have found that respite care help them manage their other commitments:

Respite care is available weekdays, weekends, overnight and evenings. Advance booking notice is required, however, every attempt will be made to provide care in a crisis.

Community Transport

Community Transport is a service designed to assist aged and disabled people to maintain their independence in the community by providing transport to necessary local business and medical appointments.

Timboon & District Healthcare Service provides this service throughout the southern section of the Corangamite Shire for those people who:

To attend appointments, such as with a Dietitian, Dentist, Podiatrist or Physiotherapist, clients will be requested to use the service closest to them.

For travel to specialists appointments or hospital admissions, clients may be referred to the Red X for assistance.

Clients must be assessed for Community Transport to be eligible to use this service. To make enquiries please contact the Assessment Officer on (03) 55586033 or (03) 55586049.

It is necessary that 2 days notice be given for local trips and 5 days for longer trips. This is required to be sure that suitable arrangements can be made where volunteer drivers are involved.

Payment is suggested by way of a donation to the volunteer driver. The driver will then return the donation to Timboon & District Healthcare Service where it will be used to extend the service provided to clients.

Planned Activity Groups

The Planned Activity Groups at Timboon & Cobden assist in maintaining an individual?s ability to live at home and in the community by providing a planned program of activities directed at enhancing the skills required for daily living and providing physical, intellectual, emotional and social stimulation. The groups also provide opportunities for social interaction as well as respite support for carers.

Referrals to attend the group will be accepted from:

Prior to admission to the Planned Activity Group each client will be assessed in their own home by the HACC Assessment Officer. A further Lifestyle Assessment will be conducted by the Coordinator upon commencement at the program.

Examples of Activities are:

Cobden centre operates each Tuesday and Wednesday between 10.00am and 3.00pm. Timboon operates each Thursday and Friday between 10.00am and 3.00pm.