Care Finder

As a Care Finder organisation, Hutt St Centre provides practical help and assistance for vulnerable older people at risk of or experiencing homelessness.

Our Care Finder team provides expert support for people who can't independently arrange the services they need, and don't have a family member or friends who can help. We can also provide help to access aged care and other supports.

The Care Finder program is fully funded through Primary Health Networks.

Hutt St Centre's Care Finder program helps vulnerable older people living in the Adelaide CBD, Walkerville, Gilberton, Medindie, Vale Park, The City of Norwood, Payneham and St Peters areas.

Eligibility for Care Finder

Care Finder services are open to people:

• aged 50 years or older
• aged 45 years or older for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• or people who are prematurely aged with frailty.

To qualify for Care Finder support, a person must:

• have no carer or support person who can help them, or
• not have a carer or support person they feel comfortable or trust to support them,

and

• be eligible for government-funded aged care.

In addition, they should have one or more of these reasons for needing intensive support:

• have difficulty communicating because of language or literacy problems
• find it difficult to understand information and make decisions
• be reluctant to engage with aged care or government
• be in an unsafe situation if they do not receive services.

People who meet these criteria are eligible for a referral to Hutt St Centre's Care Finder program.

How does the service work?

The first step when someone is connected with a dedicated Care Finder is to arrange a meeting, usually in person. This can take place in the person's home or another place where they feel comfortable. The Care Finder will ask questions to understand the person’s situation and support them to work through the steps to address their needs.

What services are available?

Hutt St Centre's Care Finders focus on helping people find safe, suitable accommodation.

As part of this process, we can also help people understand what aged care services are available, set up an assessment, help find and choose services, and provide assistance to access other supports in the community.

We can help with both accessing services for the first time, and changing or finding new services and supports.

Our Care Finders can also help with:

• Talking to My Aged Care on the person's behalf and arranging an assessment.
• Attending and providing support at the assessment.
• Finding and short-listing aged care providers in their area.
• Completing forms and understanding aged care service agreements.
• Checking-in once services are up and running to make sure everything is okay.
• Solving other challenges and connecting the person to supports in the community, like health, mental health, housing and homelessness, drug and alcohol services and community groups.
• Connecting people who need help with other services to a general Care Finder.

To find out more about Hutt St Centre's Care Finder program or to access support, reach out to our friendly team on 8418 2500 or email carefinder@huttstcentre.org.au