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RSL Care WA

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Veterans' Home Care 

The Veterans’ Home Care (VHC) program, run by the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA), provides low level home care services to eligible veterans and war widows and widowers, to maintain their health and well being and remain living independently in their own homes. 

RSL Care WA is constantly assessing all Community Care needs, and we are pleased to provide Veterans' Home Care services in the Mid West Geraldton, North Metropolitan, and East Metropolitan regions of Western Australia.

VHC services are provided as per individual assessment conducted by the Department of Veterans' Affairs (DVA).  Once the Care Plan has been agreed upon with the approved DVA assesor, assistance can include any of the following:

Domestic Assistance:

This includes assistance with domestic chores, such as help with household cleaning, dish washing, clothes washing and ironing. Domestic assistance may include help with meal preparation if this service is not being provided separately. In rural and remote areas, domestic assistance may also include activities such as collecting firewood.

Domestic assistance is not to replace tasks that individuals are capable of doing themselves. Active participation in domestic activities has been shown to have a beneficial health effect, even for the frail and very elderly.

Personal Care:

Personal care includes assistance with daily self-care tasks, such as eating, bathing, toileting, dressing, grooming, getting in and out of bed and moving about the house.

Home & Garden Maintenance:

The focus of home and garden maintenance is to minimise environmental health and safety hazards that impact on the individual. To keep the home safe and habitable, it may involve minor maintenance or repair work, which may be carried out by a handyman, but that does not require a qualified tradesperson. Tasks may include changing light bulbs and tap washers, installing batteries in smoke alarms, gutter or window cleaning, and general yard clean up where a safety hazard may be present.

Home and garden maintenance does not include major repairs or services requiring qualified trades people, such as gutter replacement, major landscaping or garden tasks such as tree-felling or tree removal. Garden tasks such as branch lopping, lawn mowing and pruning, can only be undertaken if an environmental health or safety hazard exists. Routine, cosmetic or ornamental gardening services such as weeding and maintenance of flower beds and regular lawn mowing, or pruning of roses are not available. Home and garden maintenance does not include provision of materials. 

Respite Care:

This offers temporary assistance where a substitute carer provides supervision and assistance to the care recipient. Respite care services may be provided in an appropriate accommodation setting or at home (including overnight or emergency care), or a combination of these.

Under Veterans' Home Care, respite care is provided to:

VHC provides in-home and emergency respite care, and offers a referral service for residential respite care.

How To Access Veterans' Home Care Services:

Access to VHC services is not automatic, and in most cases the veteran, war widow/widower must be either Gold or White DVA Repatriation Health Card holders.

Services are provided on the basis of assessed need and in accordance with specific set criteria. Veterans and war widows/widowers are expected to pay a small co-payment for all services provided through VHC, except for respite care.

To access services, eligible veterans and war widows/widowers may:

Note: *If you use a mobile phone, calls will be more costly. You are advised to use a normal landline phone when calling these numbers.

Source: Department of Veterans' Affairs (www.dva.gov.au)