Inside Aged Care From Someone Living It: Gwenda Darling on Dementia, Choice & the Fight to be Heard

Gwenda Darling has been living with a dementia diagnosis for 14 years. When she was first diagnosed, she believed her life was effectively over. For nearly four months, she stopped leaving the house. Since then, Gwenda has become a fierce advocate for older people and aged care residents. She has served four terms on the Council of Elders and continues to push for the needs, rights and choices of older Australians to be taken seriously. Because the reality is, too often, they still aren’t. In this episode, Dane and Rose sit down with Gwenda to talk about what aged care looks like from the perspective of someone living inside the system.  They cover the infantilisation of residents, what dignity really looks like in day to day care, how people living with dementia are treated by staff and other residents, the small choices that preserve agency, and the basic things that should never be up for debate - like full water jugs, daily showers, continence care, food people actually want to eat, and the right to intimacy. Key moments: 00:00 - The diagnosis that made Gwenda stop leaving the house  5:06 - The one thing Gwenda would change for older people first  6:50 - What Gwenda says still hasn’t changed since the Royal Commission  10:33 - The small “well-meaning” moments that are stripping residents of their agency  11:52 - What self-managing a home care package actually looks like 14:40 - What Gwenda learnt after four years on the Council of Elders  19:25 - Why Gwenda thinks we’re missing obvious answers to the aged care bed crisis  30:07 - Why are we still treating residents like children?  33:07 - The conversation aged care STILL struggles to have about intimacy 39:26 - What providers need to understand about sex, safety and ageing  49:57 - Why continence care should never be treated like a schedule  54:58 - What “dementiasm” looks like inside residential aged care  1:02:08 - Gwenda’s message to Minister Sam Rae  1:03:17 - What home care workers should be asking before they start the shift 1:04:54 - The residential care basics that we’re still missing — Visit www.thepurefoodco.com to hear more about how The Pure Food Co could help with your meal service. Connect with Dane and Rose or the Podcast on Linkedin. https://www.linkedin.com/in/dane-mitchell-763ba524 https://www.linkedin.com/in/rose-plater-0a111a129 https://www.linkedin.com/company/time-well-spent-podcast If you want to book a free Reablement Planning Workshop with Optimum Allied Health, visit www.opthealth.com.au/tws If you’re starting to scope out your next project, get in touch with Paynters over at www.paynters.com.au