Ron had been living independently in his own home with support from ECHO for 3 years.  Ron is a very social man and enjoyed the company of other people and getting out about to local coffee shops for a chat. Ron had never married, and most of his family apart from one niece there was no one to support him or give him any assistance other than ECHO.  His health declined as did his eyesight and this reduced his capacity to get out and about by himself.  ECHO provided a night service to Ron to assist with his evening meal and medications.  Although Ron enjoyed these evening visits he still felt very alone.  The support worker reported that Ron was feeling quite isolated, due mainly to his inability to leave his home alone  because of his failing eyesight and other declining health issues and had expressed a desire to go into residential care.

In discussion with his case manager they set some goals together to enable Ron to find a place in a residential facility.  The case manager supported Ron through the Public Trustee system to obtain an Administrator for him. Having this in place enabled Ron to sell his home and secure his financial future.

Ron went into residential care some 6 weeks after starting this process.  He is extremely happy in his new home. He has people around him to chat to all the time, he can take part in activities and outings which he had not been able to do for some time and he had a secure financial future because he now had an Administrator to manage his financial affairs.

Residential care is not for everyone. However, Ron saw it as the best outcome for him and he made that decision for himself.