SW aged care on inclusive path

Aged care providers have been urged to consider and be more aware of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex clients as part of a training course held in Busselton last week.

GLBTI Rights in Ageing Inc chairwoman June Lowe and Jude Comfort on Tuesday held a training session at Baptistcare William Carey Court Busselton to give advice on how providers could deliver an inclusive, best-practice service.

The trainers pointed to changes to the Aged Care Act in 2012, which created a legal imperative for the aged care sector to develop LGBTI-inclusive services.

Ms Lowe told the _Times _ research published in 2009 showed about 85 per cent of aged care providers who responded said they did not or had not ever had any LGBTI residents.

She said the conclusion drawn was that the issue of LGBTI aging had fallen below the radar of many aged care providers.

"On one hand we have older people hiding their identities and on the other we have aged care providers who haven't been looking," she said.

"It's just not been on the agenda." Historical experiences of stigma and discrimination meant many older people were used to concealing their identities, Ms Lowe said.

However, in doing this they were losing access to their stories and had visitors who would masquerade as friends rather than partners.

Dr Comfort said the anticipation of adverse reaction was what led many aged care residents to hide who they were, and Ms Lowe added providers needed to signal they were inclusive organisations.

"The onus is on the service to come out first and put out messages that people will be treated well and safely," she said.

While many today were inclusive of LGBTI people, Dr Comfort said people who were 85 now grew up in a very different age.

"Anyone can have their own beliefs but when you come to work you have a requirement to do your job," she said.

"(There is) a large group of baby boomers heading to aged care and we won't be quiet, we won't be back in the closet."