Bobbie’s fight continues

This month will mark five years since Bobbie English’s husband, Chris, had a freak accident that left him a quadriplegic at the age of 69.

It will also mark five years since Bobbie began her fight for the disability community to give older people access to the funding they need.

Since the 2018 accident, the Kiama Lions member has been fighting to remove the age discrimination that stops people over 65 having access to the NDIS.

As nothing has come from Bobbie’s petition that saw 20,000 signatures presented to Parliament in 2019, she is now calling on the My Aged Care Scheme – which people over 65 are forced onto – to do something.

“I would like it to be equivalent to NDIS and assessed on the person’s needs,” Bobbie says.

Chris, who passed away in 2020, qualified for a Level 4 My Aged Care Package, which offered $52,000 in support packages.

He could have received up to $200,000 on the NDIS.

“We got an hour and a half of care five days a week. That’s all we could afford because I needed to keep money in the package in case I got sick,” says Bobbie, who was his full-time carer.

“I want there to be levels 5,

6 and 7 if need be – just so long as there is more money in the package because there are people out there that are suffering.”

According to Spinal Life Australia, almost half (44.5 per cent) of Australians living with a disability are over 65.

“People like Chris, over the age of 65 with a disability, don’t have a long life span so why are they neglected?

“If we had that other $150,000, I could have breathed easy.

“When the lady [from My Aged Care] came to assess Chris she said ‘I am so sorry but you will not be able to cope on the money you are going to get’,” Bobbie says. Her fight for others in the same position has been a difficult one with her enquiries to Government workers “swept under the rug”.

“Besides being told ‘I’ll see what I can do’ and never hearing back, I have been given phone numbers of people who don’t know what I am talking about and emails I later found out are not even checked,” Bobbie says.

When a letter was forwarded to Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells on behalf of Bobbie, she received an “unsatisfactory” reply.

“Minister Wells told me what their Level 4 package offers then listed additional supplement subsidies that are available for those with specific needs, with none relating to Chris,” Bobbie says.

She is now requesting a meeting with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones and Ms Wells to show them firsthand what it is like to care for a loved one 24/7. Frustrated, Bobbie says, “I honestly don’t think they care. They are hoping I go away but I won’t.

“If anyone is in the same situation or they need help, they can contact me. We need to band together,” she says. You can email her on chrisbobbie@bigpond.com

by Cassandra Zaucer

Shine Women

Early notice of a free seminar on ‘Boundaries’ to be held on Thursday 8 June, 7-8.30pm at the Church Point Centre, 2 Terralong St.

A free eight week course helping women discover their worth, value and purpose, commencing Friday 4 August, 10am-12pm at Minnamurra.

The aim of Shine Women’s sessions is to support and improve the mental wellbeing of all women in our Community. RSVP