The Rotary Club of Sydney – President’s Project 2008/9
Support of YoungCare

A personal message from the President, Patricia Harrison.

Have you ever visited an elderly relative in a nursing home?
Not the most pleasant way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

Have you had to make the unenviable decision to put a loved one into a nursing home?
This would have to count as one of the most emotional moments in a family’s life.

But how would you feel if it was your spouse or, even worse, one of your children?

So what happens to the 6,500 young people in an aged care facility?
21% go outside the aged care home less than once a month
34% participate in a community based activity such as
shopping, almost never
44% receive a visit from friends less than once a year

You wouldn’t want it for a friend or a child.   Aged care is no place for a young person.   What is needed is appropriate care, relevant care, dignified care ……

Youngcare is a charity devoted to providing high level care for young adults who would otherwise have to live in traditional aged care facilities.    These people, ranging in age from 20 to 50, are physically incapacitated through accident or illness, such as Multiple Sclerosis, but still fully mentally alert, requiring a level of care that cannot be provided in the home, and until recently, there was no alternative than an aged care facility.

David and Shevonne Conry were a young married couple in their early 30’s when they moved to Sydney from Brisbane to further their careers.     It wasn’t long after this that Shevonne became ill and with the disheartening prognosis of multiple sclerosis.  They moved back to Brisbane to be near their families.     However Shevonne became so ill that it was impossible for her to be looked after in the home and the family had no alternative other than to find her a place in an aged care facility.

David had a group of school mates who used to meet on regular Friday evenings for a beer after work, and one evening David was saying how badly they were all coping with the fact that Shevonne was in the nursing home.     You know how guys talk when they have had a few beers?    Well it was on.  They wouldn’t stand for this and decided to build Shevonne her own nursing home.

The twist to this story is that they won’t just talking, they actually did build Shevonne her own nursing home, and thus Youngcare was born.

At the time that I was invited to be President of our Club I had been through the experience of looking at nursing homes for my mother, and had been most distressed to find that young people were living in the same circumstances. I decided that this would be my project during my term as President.

Coincidentally one of our members, through his company, had become involved with Youngcare in Brisbane so it seemed to be the obvious solution – rather than starting from scratch in Sydney we would transfer the Brisbane concept down here.

Several of us went up to Brisbane last December for the official opening of the first YoungCare apartments, and I said to David that he must be relieved now that he had achieved his goal he could relax, but I was very pleased when he replied that he would not be stopping until there was an appropriate bed available for every young person in Australia who required one.

The Adam Scott foundation has donated $2.5m to build a second facility on the Gold Coast which should be ready early in 2010.

YoungCare in Sydney

The Rotary Club of Sydney is assisting Youngcare to build the third facility in Sydney.     We are assisting with finding suitable premises, obtaining relevant government and council authorities and grants, raising funds, but probably most importantly raising the awareness of the general public about what we are trying to achieve.

If you would like to assist this worthwhile cause, please email Patricia Harrison at pharrison@intersuisse.com.au or on 0414 858 599.

More information about YoungCare may be found at www.youngcare.com.au.