When Wei was 78 years old, he began struggling to stand for long periods of time.
This made it hard for him to spend much time cooking – something he really enjoyed. He particularly loved cooking and eating Chinese dishes from his hometown.
Wei contacted My Aged Care to see if he could get some meal support. An assessor came to his house to learn about his situation.
Instead of referring Wei for meals services, the assessor organised a Chinese community support worker to help him shop and prepare meals twice a week. They also arranged for a stool to be set up at Wei’s kitchen bench. These services were approved through the Commonwealth Home Support Program.
The support worker accompanied Wei to the local Chinese Grocer to shop for ingredients. They encouraged him to pick meals from a Chinese cookbook to prepare together.
Wei didn’t speak much English, so he was very happy to have a support worker he could chat with in Mandarin. It came in handy for his cooking sessions and was also a great social activity. He even learned some new food preparation skills that he could use on his own.
With this help, Wei was cooking and enjoying his favourite food again, which made him very happy.
Services featured in Wei’s story
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To access these services, you will need to be assessed. An aged care assessment determines whether you are approved to access services based on your care needs.
