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Sarah Russell

My story

The Queen changed the lights

Several years ago, I noticed Pat, an elderly woman who lived in my street, having at the pedestrian crossing. The lights changed before she had an opportunity to cross St Georges Road, a busy road in Northcote. I wrote to the Department of Transport to suggest, with an ageing population,…
Sarah Russell
July 28, 2023
Politics

Superior managers

Outsourcing public services to the private sector became central to the playbook of bureaucracies after ‘new public management’ theories took hold of Australian public services in the 1990s. An unspoken benefit was that it was an indirect way of breaking up unionised workforces within governments. New public management was the…
Sarah Russell
May 26, 2023
Aged Care

She’s dreaming

A personal care attendant working in an aged care home is paid $28.47 per hour. So a 15% rise will give them an extra  $4.27 extra per hour in their pocket. Does Minister Wells seriously think an extra $4 per hour will "entice 10,000 more workers to the sector"? We…
Sarah Russell
May 5, 2023
Aged Care

Need for transparency

John Hewson (Aged care should not weary them, April 22-28) addresses an elephant in the room: The charitable and religious organisations in the aged care sector that expected healthy cash surpluses that they could then draw on to help fund their other religious and pastoral care objectives. My research shows this…
Sarah Russell
April 22, 2023
Aged Care

Loving family and friends

Thank goodness Molly Meldrum's friends who are providing support for Molly to remain at home.  It takes a village to support an older person living at home with cognitive failure. Although many older people receive government assistance to remain at home, unpaid carers – family, friends, neighbours – often undertake…
Sarah Russell
March 27, 2023