"My name is Graeme and I'm currently stuck in a hospital ward because there is nowhere else for me to go ..."
This has been devastating for my family, especially my children.
Coming to see your dad in hospital can be hard at the best of times. But knowing that you you have to leave him there has been just awful for them.
One of the hardest things for me is seeing them leave in tears and not being able to do anything about it.
I want to access the rehab and support I need and be able to be a father to my kids!
Back in early 2005, 37 year old Graeme suffered an episode of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and entered Canberra Hospital for treatment. A year and a half later the former plasterer and bodybuilder is still there, because the community based accommodation and support he needs does not exist.
Living in the hospital has been an extremely costly exercise for everyone involved.
It has separated Graeme from his three young children when they desperately need him in their lives - something that has greatly increased their distress at not having their father at home.
It has prevented Graeme accessing the rehabilitation, equipment and other supports he needs to maintain his health and well being because the hospital is not meant for long term living, doesn't have the resources to support him in this way and cannot provide Graeme with the social and mental stimulation he needs.
Graeme's health has suffered and his susceptibility to MS has increased because he has been unable to take even the most minimal of steps to maintain his well being.
The hospital has certainly suffered as it has been unable to use the bed Graeme has occupied for the last 1 and a half years in a Cardiology Ward, to treat someone else and has had to divert scarce resources to do so.
The community has also suffered through the hospital's diminished capacity to carry out its core business.
Graeme simply wants the supports and services he needs to live in the community and continue being a father to his family.
His family want him back in their lives and the hospital wants to get back to doing what it does best. It’s the simple things like watching the latest DVD’s, BBQ’s in the backyard with his family and a home environment that Graeme needs.
Just because his body is affected by the progression of his MS doesn’t mean that his mind is affected but if he doesn’t receive on-going mental stimulation and continues to be isolated from society, Graeme’s mental well being will continue to suffer.
To do this, Graeme wants to live in a supported accommodation setting that will enable him to participate in his family's life and an environment which will support his mental well being by giving him the social opportunities a young man like Graeme needs.
A place where his children can visit and act like a family – watch movies together and spend time with their father without having to be in a hospital ward and when it comes time to leave, shed tears because the feelings of leaving him lying there in a hospital bed are so unbearable.
The anguish Graeme and his family experience daily is shared by his extended family too.
They feel helpless because they cannot alleviate Graeme’s situation and the deepest sadness that they cannot provide a better quality of life for him in his current situation.
They want the Government’s lack of support to end and action taken to give Graeme the supports he needs to regain his life with his family.
UPDATE
Graeme, his father, Graeme Snr, and aunt, Pat Hedditch, recently took part in a press conference held at Parliament House, Canberra, on February 8, 2007.
The YPINH National Alliance had called the press conference to comment on the release of the Senate Inquiry Report into the Funding and operation of the Commonwealth State Territory Disability Agreement (CSTDA). The fourth CSTDA is currently being negotiated by Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments. The existing Agreement expires on July 1, 2007. For more information, see CSTDA.
Graeme asked that all governments heed the reports recommendations, chief amongst which was a call for substantial funding increases and an end to the unilateral ‘blame game’ that all jurisdictions had, in the past, indulged in.
Graeme also said that the need for assistance was urgent and pointed to the fact that he had needed to borrow a wheelchair to attend the press conference as he still doesn’t have one of his own. He is hoping the Report’s Recommendation that a National Equipment Program be established will prevent others facing the same situation in the future.
The full Report can be viewed at Senate Inquiry Report into the Funding and operation of the Commonwealth State Territory Agreement (CSTDA)
If you would like to read the media that the Alliance, Grayden and Lauralei received from this press conference, go to...
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