Insight: May 3

This week Insight brings together multiple generations of Australians to highlight how they’re tackling the issue of aged care – and how they’re making it work.

There are currently more than two million Australians aged 70 years and over. By 2055, an estimated 40,000 people will live to see their 100th birthday, and the number of people aged 70 and over will almost triple.

Given we’re living much longer lives, what are the care and housing options available to us in our later years? How do we decide what is right for our ageing families? Most importantly, what do older Australians want in the latter stages of life?

Many older Australians and their families look to nursing homes to help ease the burden. This is despite a general reluctance among seniors to leave the familiarity, comfort and convenience of their homes, and largely due to a lack of alternatives.

What’s more, we’re now seeing the rise of the “sandwich generation”, the first generation likely to spend as much time caring for their ageing parents as they did caring for their children.

The program asks how you balance your own needs and those of an ageing loved one, and whose responsibility is it to make that call.

Guests include:

Cathy and Sonny Pirreca
“Mum always said, you need to look after your father when I die.”

Ramzi and Sajeeda Elsayed
“Mum stays with me for four nights a week, she’s also at my sister’s for three nights a week. So we spread the love, as I call it.”

Olympia and Rose
Olympia: “Rose is kind of a house mate.”
Rose: “Olympia is a carer, but to me you could say she’s nearly like a daughter.”

Ruth Ponniah
“Fingers crossed, I keep thinking that I’d like to stay on where I am.”

Judy and Michael Hollingworth
“People my age and older want autonomy, purpose in their lives and relationships.”

Megan Lewis
“We’ve agreed that this needs to be a family decision… what I’ve said to mum, this might seem a bit harsh, but it’s not all about mum right now.”

Jane Mussared, Chief Executive of Council of the Aged Australia (South Australia)
“I love the idea that people are experimenting. I think that’s what we need to do.”

Tuesdays at 8.30pm on SBS.