Mrs Madera has been a MAC client for almost ten years. Born in Italy in 1933, she immigrated to Australia in 1970 with a young family, where at first they rented a home and very soon after were able to purchase their current family home in Ashbury.
Mrs Madera came from a hard working family. She enjoyed work and home projects in addition to raising her family and maintaining a strong cultural heritage of entertaining, cooking, baking and hosting large family gatherings.
As a result of an unexpected condition that affected her mobility, Mrs Madera came to our service. For an independent and active person, having physical limitations was extremely challenging.
For the first five years following back surgery Mrs Madera was able to sustain herself with only the help of her family. Her children had to take shifts to care for their mum. They were lucky to have the family as a fall-back option. Nonetheless, the ongoing daily care she needed was hard for the family.
Following a doctor’s referral for support services, MAC was the first service provider for Mrs Madera where she was able to receive level 2 care.
Mrs Madera was happy to be referred to a service provider that was able to understand her cultural background and speak in her Italian mother tongue and could also appreciate and easily relate to her hesitation and cultural perceptions around receiving outside help. The support was highly welcomed and appreciated by family, knowing that mum was able to communicate and express herself with total ease and confidence.
MAC provided home support services, assisted with her comfort by providing appropriate equipment such as a special seat that made it easy to get in and out of whilst providing the comfort needed. Furniture was also re-arranged for her to be able to move about easily and safely. Her case manager also looked into providing her with suitable mobility equipment.
The assistance even though, a little below Mrs Madera’s daily needs, it provided peace of mind and relief to her family allowing them to spend their time with mum socialising instead of providing care.
Mrs Madera was quick to develop a great rapport/friendship with the case manager and the support staff. There is an invaluable mutual affinity, between Mrs Madera, her family, support staff and case manager. This was a result of understanding her culture, speaking her native language and teaming her with the right staff who have grown to be in tune with her needs.
Mrs Madera’s service level has been increased to better accommodate her needs. Even though there was a waiting period for a vacancy for a higher service level, Mrs Madera’s circumstances were taken into consideration and her service level has been upgraded to better meet her requirements.
As an organisation MAC strives to understand the client journey- their culture, background, personal circumstances, routine, and goals. As a dedicated service provider MAC focuses on developing a relationship of trust, and mutual respect beyond just service provision. Attention and dedication for the client is invaluable when providing care services. It is important for our valuable Bilingual support staff to listen and be intuitive to the care recipient’s needs and wellbeing, and be able to come up with strategies to help meet their goals.
Mrs Madera is described by her case manager and regular support staff as a very enthusiastic, vibrant, lady who and can relate to people regardless of age and background.
We believe that everyone’s life journey is unique and interesting, so if you are interested in sharing your journey with MAC please feel free to call our office on 97186199. Family and carers –we will be delighted to hear from you about your life story caring for someone.