Celebrate unpaid carers this families week

National Families Week, 15–21 May is Australia’s annual celebration of family, advocating the vital role family play in supporting their loved ones.

Approximately 2.6 million Australians currently support others as unpaid carers, often facing barriers to participation in paid work, education, family and other social activities due to their care role1.

Tunstall Healthcare Managing Director, Lyn Davies said Tunstall was proud to provide assistive technologies which help support those family carers to manage their care role, while juggling other work and family commitments.

“At Tunstall we are there to provide support, peace of mind and reassurance,” Ms Davies said.

“We understand the pressures often placed on family carers and can help tailor a telecare solution to assist the individual care needs of both the carer and their loved one.

“Monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week, our personal alarms and assistive technology solutions provide carers with the reassurance that help is just a button press away for their loved one.

“Our service allows carers to carry on with their daily commitments, knowing that their loved one can still get help even if they are not available,” she said.

Carers may utilise Tunstall’s service while in the resident’s home by activating an alarm call for assistance, allowing the response operator to organise help while the carer focuses on their loved one.

If a carer is not onsite when an incident occurs, the response operator will wait on the line with the resident until help arrives, and notify the carer that emergency services have been arranged and the resident is on their way to the hospital.

New to Tunstall’s telecare falls management range, the iVi intelligent pendant detects if the wearer has fallen and also provides them with a means of calling for help from anywhere in their home.

It emits an auditable alarm tone and alerts our 24 hour response centre, should it detect a sudden change in barometric pressure, orientation or movement.

“One of our clients Gavin suffers from sudden and severe drop attacks which render him unconscious for long periods of time,” said Ms Davies.

“Before discovering the existence of our Tunstall fall management solution, Gavin’s parents had to take a primary role in his care, sharing the responsibility of personally monitoring Gavin 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“With a Tunstall alarm and fall detector, the need for Gavin’s parents to make physical checks on him is eliminated.

“Our tailored falls management solution allows them to spend time on other commitments, knowing that should Gavin collapse, our response operators are able to immediately organise the appropriate help.”