Grappling with carer burnout, Lynn knew she needed help caring for her Mum. When the care from another provider proved insufficient, Lynn turned to The CareSide for 24-hour home care and supplemental services—and now she’s at peace with the support her Mum receives. Here’s their story.
Lynn Santer has an impressive resumé.
She’s a best-selling author, an award-winning screenwriter, and an accomplished philanthropist whose activism projects have sparked collaborations with Priscilla Presley, Tippi Hedren, and other notable Hollywood names.
At the end of the day, though, Lynn is also a daughter of an ageing parent, and she’s doing her best to provide proper support.
A few years ago, Lynn’s Mum, Clare, reached a point where she needed more help.
‘It was getting to a stage where, gradually, there was more and more Mum wasn’t doing, which meant there was more and more that I was doing,’ Lynn says. ‘It became too much for me to cope with—I was teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown.’
Carer burnout is an increasingly urgent issue in Australia. Facing burnout herself, Lynn recalls thinking: ‘There isn’t enough of me to go around. I don’t know what I’m going to do.’
That sentiment—shared by countless unpaid carers across the country—led Lynn to in-home care. But even then, securing proper support for her Mum required a lot of effort.
‘It took us over a year to jump through all the hoops of the government process to get funding,’ Lynn says. ‘I stuck with it, but wow—it was lengthy, frustrating, and complicated.’
As many home care recipients know, applying for a Home Care Package and securing funding can be an arduous process, especially as wait times have continued to balloon in recent years. The new Support at Home program aims to address those issues, but for families like the Santers, the lengthy process must lead to sufficient support.
Eventually, Clare received a Level 4 package and signed up with a home care provider. But her care needs soon began outpacing her services, and Lynn realised more help was necessary. So she decided to supplement her Mum’s care with additional services from another provider.
‘I looked at a lot of providers,’ she says, ‘and for one reason or another, I discounted all of them until I found The CareSide.’
Lynn explains three aspects about The CareSide that stood out to her:
- 24-hour care: Lynn was excited to learn The CareSide not only has a strong model for 24-hour care, but that it’s flexible enough to fit her Mum’s unique situation. ‘Our other provider would go into staffing logistical panic if they had to provide 24/7 care,’ she says, making sure to point out The CareSide structures around-the-clock services so they’re as cost-effective as possible.
- Affordability: On average, The CareSide’s prices are 25% lower than other providers. Those reasonable rates caught Lynn’s attention when she compared The CareSide to others in the industry.
- The people: The third aspect that drew Lynn to The CareSide had nothing to do with numbers or policies—it was the team and the way they treated her once she made contact. ‘Every person I have dealt with to organise care has been professional, understanding, accommodating, and has really listened,’ she shares. ‘I am very impressed.’
Today, Clare has all the support she needs, including physiotherapy, podiatry, and personal care services from her Home Care Package provider. The CareSide, meanwhile, supplements Clare’s support by delivering on everything else, from light cleaning and meal preparation to around-the-clock support as needed.
‘Mum doesn’t need 24/7 care, but if I’m not with her, she needs someone with her just in case,’ Lynn explains. ‘The last three times she was in hospital, she was literally fine one moment and not fine the next—if someone isn’t there in that moment, it could be dire.’
In-hospital care is another familiar challenge to Lynn.
When her father passed away 20 years ago, in-home aged care support wasn’t accessible like it is today, and the hospital where he spent his final months was understaffed. Lynn plans to do everything in her power to avoid that same situation with her Mum, up to and including securing private care in hospital.
‘If, heaven forbid, Mother goes into hospital again, the first thing I’ll do is get an additional private carer in with her because I know from experience: no matter how good the hospital is, there are never enough nurses to support high-needs patients,’ she says.
Lynn enquired about in-hospital care with Clare’s Home Care Package provider, but company policy prevents them from offering that service. The CareSide, though, does provide in-hospital care, and that was another critical differentiator in Lynn’s eyes. Ultimately, she just wants to ensure her Mum has the best support available—even in hospital. It’s all part of a well-rounded care strategy that took the Santers several years to fully develop.
‘We’ve got things reasonably well-honed now,’ Lynn says with a smile.
