A new aged care concept being driven by locals in the town of Pingelly, 150km south-east of Perth, is enabling elderly residents to stay in their own homes and communities for longer.
The Staying in Place Program, developed by volunteer organisation Pingelly Somerset Alliance, connects aged patients with local contractors to deliver at-home care.
The initiative, which is funded by the federal government, also aims to educate local residents about funding opportunities they may not know they are eligible for.
Pingelly Somerset Alliance treasurer Lee Steele believes the program is revolutionising the delivery of aged care and making it more affordable.
"I have no doubt it is the future," she said.
"It is allowing people in our community, as they age in place, not to have to leave town to receive services.
"The traditional model uses traditional employment and service needs, while our model provides the opportunity for local people to be employed by the person receiving the package."
Regional residents are increasingly being forced to spend their final years in major cities, due to major staff shortages.
Ms Steele said connection to community was an important part of a regional lifestyle.
"It's not just that people have to leave town. They actually often end up being alone because their families are still [in regional areas]," she said.
"It's a terrible and traumatic journey, not just to age and have to leave, but also to leave everybody behind."
A two-day expo held last month at the Pingelly Recreation Centre welcomed more than 100 people from across the state, many of them searching for solutions for their own towns.
The event was attended by representatives from state parliament, local government and the WA country health service.
The reality of regional aged care
Gingin resident and volunteer Sylvia Kelly has seen first-hand the impact of a lack of aged care.
In 2014, she founded the Gingin Care Group, a volunteer network providing transport to locals for important health appointments in Perth.
The group has completed hundreds of trips since records began in 2018.
She said too many regional residents spent their dying days alone in unfamiliar surroundings.
"The usual pattern is they get less and less able. Then eventually, they fall and get carted out in the ambulance," she said.
"Then it's decided they can't live alone, and they don't even have time to say goodbye to their home.
"They have to go anywhere there's a bed. They don't know anybody, far away from their friends."
Ms Kelly is part of a recently formed aged care working group with the local shire, trying to find solutions to the current shortage.
The group attended the recent Staying in Place expo in Pingelly, and Ms Kelly said the concept would be a good fit for Gingin.
"The model they've got working, it would work here," she said.
"We wouldn't be dependent on waiting for an [aged care service] to decide it's going to come and employ people. It's a totally different system."
Gingin Shire councillor and chair of the Aged Care Working Group Linda Balcombe agrees.
"In rural communities, there's a severe problem providing aged care services and keeping them in their homes as long as possible," she said.
"Since I've been to Pingelly, I feel like their solution might be something that we can work towards."
