Caring for Older People

Caring for older people in the Douglas Shire should not be considered something we have to do, it is very much something we must do. As we all get a little older, one can’t help but look around at family and friends who are also ageing. I have unfortunately come to the stark revelation that there is no real magical fountain of youth.

In 2001 the Douglas Shire population was 10,466 and the median age was 35 years (ABS). A breakdown of the age groups at that time will reveal we had 849 or 8.1% of our Shire residents aged 65 years or over. Now let’s apply the science to see where we could be in the year 2026.

According to the Queensland Government Planning and Infrastructure Forecasting Unit (PIFU) the Douglas Shire population should be around 16,247 and the 65 years or over age group will make up approximately 2837 individuals or 17.5% of the total Shire population. Of these 2837 older people, 1021.3 or 36% (ABS) will require some form of residential care by the time they reach 70 and over.

Thankfully, gone are the days of the ‘institutionalised’ type of aged care. Modern aged care is now a series of community health networks all working together to provide a range of services to the elderly.

For instance, extended home care services are the most common and cost effective form of aged care these days but a portion of those receiving home care may at some stage require a more round-the-clock type of care such as ‘residential care’ or ‘temporary residential care’. Some residential care recipients will statistically become high care or dementia care patients.

Okay, so now I’ll cut to the chase; the reality is, this type of community service costs money and in most instances a lot of money. When it comes down to looking after our older people we should be very wary about leaving all of the decisions to a board of directors who are ultimately responsible to shareholders.

So how can we as a small shire, fund community health and aged care initiatives and yet still be able to pay for other much needed Douglas Shire services and improvements?

The answer could lay with the establishment of a commercial water bottling plant. We are very lucky to have a water supply that has the unique potential to be a commercially viable resource. The water-bottling concept is not new in the Douglas Shire and has been discussed and bandied about for many years (since the commissioning of our state-of-the-art ultra-purification system). So where do we go from here?

Just bringing the issue into focus is always a good way to start any public consultation process. Current day water bottling plants are a ‘turn-key’ or ‘off the shelf ‘ item that can be delivered both quickly and cost effectively.

If we were to look at new bottling equipment at the slower end of production, a water-bottling machine that is capable of delivering around 1000-2000 (600ml) bottles per day will cost about $275,000.00. Alternatively, a bottling machine that pumps stock out at 2000 bottles per hour might be a little beyond our needs. With capper, labeller and packaging equipment you would be looking at a total investment of between $350,000.00 and $500,000.00 for plant and machinery.

As you can see, a water bottling plant would not cost a great deal to establish and depending on whether or not we find a reasonable size market could actually mean a road home for our community health services.