During August, Queenslanders celebrated Seniors Week. At UnitingCare Community we never stop celebrating the contribution of seniors. We know that as a generation, older people today are punching above their weight in caring for little ones, their own adult children, and their elderly parents. Seniors also make up the bulk of our volunteer base in Lifeline shops across Queensland. Seniors are our super heroes.

And yet, last year UnitingCare Community’s Elder Abuse Prevention Helpline (1300 651 192) received over 1000 calls from older people across Queensland reporting abuse – 83% of the abusers were family members mostly sons and daughters. These calls involve complex family issues and our operators need detailed knowledge of the legal, criminal, guardianship and other systems so they can help callers in distress. 

Our Seniors Enquiry Line (1300 135 500) and Time-For-Grandparents Program also receive calls from older people needing help. The Seniors Enquiry Line is a state-wide information and referral service while the Time-for-Grandparents program assists grandparents raising grandchildren. One call will put a person in touch with information on: concessions, social activities, household assistance, retirement accommodation, financial and legal matters, health, education, transport and many other issues.

All of our seniors support lines receive calls from people in distress.  Our operators need to be trained to not only to offer quality support to a person in crisis (as they would in a Lifeline service), they also need to have a comprehensive knowledge of the issues facing older people and the services available for referral. It helps that some of our staff are seniors themselves. This thorough and comprehensive training is one of the greater costs of running the service; will you help train our support workers?