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What We Do
COMMUNITY VISITOR SCHEME
Community Visitors Scheme (CVS) is an Australian Government initiative that funds not for profit organisations to recruit and train volunteers to visit older people who are living in their own homes or who are residents at aged care facilities, and are experiencing social and cultural isolation and feelings of loneliness and would benefit from a friendly visitor.
For more information about this program please visit:
https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/community-visitors-scheme-cvs.
The Serbian Community Association of Australia (SCAA) has been the recipient of the Community Visitors Scheme (CVS) grant since 2014. Through the CVS program, the Association has addressed the need for social support to isolated seniors who are the recipients of home care packages and more recently older people who receive government funded residential aged care services.
The project’s involvement has resulted in the Association being able to organise regular visits which has provided friendship and companionship to isolated elderly people.
SCAA CVS’s services include:
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One-on-One visits to Home Care Package recipients in the following regions: Southern Metro, Western Metro, Northern Metro and Eastern Metro
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One-on-One visits to recipients of the government funded residential aged care services in the following regions: Southern Metro, Western Metro, Northern Metro and Eastern Metro
ADDITIONAL CARER RESPITE FUNDING 2022-23
The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing provides funding to eligible organisations to provide respite for unpaid carers in 2022-23.
By utilising its connections with carers on a personal level and working with members of the broader Serbian community, our project aims to promote respite services in the community and enable better utilisation of respite services.
SCAA will tailor services that respond to the needs of Serbian carers and provide different options in order to choose what is best for them. This means the activities will be according to their need and also at the time and location suitable to them.
Under this program SCAA will organise:
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Individual (one-to-one) respite where the care recipient is supported in their home or in the community for an event or outing.
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Respite in a group setting which will include activities of choice such as recreational activities (tai chi, walking sessions or similar) and social activities (morning tea, picnic, etc)
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Respite sessions with concurrent activities for carers, where the carer and the person being cared for are participating in different activities at the same time.
ADVANCED CARE PLANNING, CONVERSATIONS AND PALLIATIVE CARE IN THE SERBIAN COMMUNITY
In 2022, SCAA received a grant from Palliative Care Victoria to facilitate Advanced Care Planning, Conversations and Palliative Care in the Serbian community project.
The aim of this project is to increase awareness about advanced care planning by providing information and having conversation with the older people, their families, health care professionals and clinicians in the Serbian, and other CALD communities. The project will highlight importance of advance care planning before there is an urgent need for a plan.
Educating about the advance care planning is the first step towards discussing with the members of the Serbian community about health care they would or would not like to receive if they were to become seriously ill or injured and are unable to communicate their preferences or make decisions.
It is expected that the project will empower the community to consider documenting preference for the type of care they would receive and the outcomes they would consider acceptable. It is particularly important for older people, people with a chronic illness, people with multiple diseases, or people who have an early cognitive impairment and are approaching the end of life. This often relates to the care received at the end of life.
This will ensure the families and clinicians know what their health and personal preferences are and that these preferences are respected.