As we age, it is natural to need a helping hand from time to time. Why not call UPA Central West Home Care’s local, dedicated team to help you make the most of your assigned Home Care Package.

The United Protestants Association (UPA) has a long history in Orange. Well-known for operating aged care facilities and retirement homes — Ascott Gardens and Astill Court in Orange, Prunus and Molong Lodge in Molong among others — what you may not know is that UPA offers a range of government-funded home care services to keep people healthy and happy in their own homes.

“We are locals looking after our local Orange community members,” says local UPA Community Care Manager Hayley Jenkins.

“We're based locally and a lot of our staff have grown up in Orange. They are a great team of care workers, who really know the local area and they are all dedicated to the clients.”

UPA offers Home Care Packages, Short-Term Restorative Care and works with the other agencies like the Department of Veterans Affairs to provide care for eligible ex-servicemen and women.

“It is consumer-directed care, so the focus is on consumer choice,” said Hayley.

The client has a choice of service providers to manage their government-funded Home Care Package, she said.

“Once the client and/or family have chosen UPA, one our experienced Care Coordinators will then visit them in their home and in consultation with them and their family develop a care plan based on their choices, allied health recommendations and what the Aged Care Assessment Team has identified as their needs.”

The services UPA provides can be anything from light cleaning, assisting with dressing and showering, meal preparation, basic maintenance, as well as social support.

“Our care workers will take clients shopping for their groceries or visit their home to play board games. We offer transport to assist with doctor’s appointments, banking etc. Prior to COVID we were running lots of group social support services — we have a men's shed we run, but at the moment it is only one on one, as restrictions ease, we are looking forward to getting them back in action for a very exciting 2021” said Hayley.

“We can arrange referrals for allied health, such as occupational therapy, physical therapy, podiatry — we follow their recommendations for equipment to maintain safety in the home. We even have beauty services, one of our Care Workers is a beautician who will go out and do manicures and pedicures and facials.”

While packages must be delivered within government guidelines, UPA’s Care Coordinators can help you find ‘outside the box’ solutions that could help you maintain independence.

“The packages are quite flexible and our coordinators have great ideas for ‘different’ services like… coming into Christmas, we can help with Christmas cooking, card writing, and gift wrapping.”

More than anything else, Hayley said it is the dedication of the team at UPA that really sets them apart.

“I've recently come from Sydney and I love it here. I've not worked for a service provider where we have clients drop in with scones and lamingtons; it really is a beautiful community,” she said.

“We have a great team of care workers who are all dedicated to their clients, they are really quite engaged  and proud to be associated with UPA because they genuinely enjoy working for us — I've not experienced that with another service provider.”

The Aged Care home services process can be quite complicated, for help with accessing services or if you have any questions contact the team at UPA Community Care on (02) 6361 3322.