Aged Care

Australia looks to Pacific to fill staff gaps

The federal government has expanded the Pacific Australian Labour Mobility Scheme to include aged care, hospitality and tourism industries in a bid to address workforce shortfalls.

A Committee for Economic Development of Australia report says the country needs to find an extra 35,000 aged care workers per year.

In Western Australia's south, six Fijian aged care workers have filled some of the vacant, much-needed positions caring for the elderly.

The workers were the first to arrive under the expanded PALM scheme.

Baby brings memory and speech back to aged care resident with dementia

Morleen Templeman, 83, has had trouble communicating since being diagnosed with dementia and moving into the care of Feros Village in the northern New South Wales town of Bangalow.

Care manager Jo Dwyer said Mrs Templeman had experienced a lot of frustration since losing her speech.

"Morleen is troubled, and you can see that, but she can't tell us why," Ms Dwyer said.

"One of the biggest ways she's been affected is her speech, she'll be out there muttering and muttering but nothing is clear, only very occasionally she might say 'thank you' or 'pretty flower.'"

The dying process: What to expect when someone is close to death

The majority of deaths on screen are violent, bloody, traumatic affairs, with few realistic portrayals of what a death from illness or so-called "natural causes" actually looks like.

Little wonder we have such a fear of death, and especially of being in the presence of it.

It's still a terrifying notion, because most of us have no idea what we will see.

My own curiosity about death led me to write a book on the topic.

In bringing together medical research and personal stories from those who've undergone near-death experiences, I learned a lot.