It’s been an exciting couple of months for the Summer Foundation in both the housing and health spheres. We have been busy scaling up practical solutions to the challenges faced by young people with complex support needs in the rollout of the NDIS.
Welcome to our final newsletter for 2018
The latest quarterly report from the NDIA included a new set of market data relating to specialist disability accommodation (SDA). It showed that at the end of September 2018, more than 9,500 NDIS participants across Australia had an SDA payment in their NDIS plan and over $90m had been committed in SDA payments. There were 2,200 registered SDA dwellings, and of these, 260 were newly built.
The role of support coordinator is critical to keeping young people out of aged care. As part of our new Support Coordinator Flagship Program, the Summer Foundation is creating a Community of Practice to encourage knowledge sharing and to foster professional connections between support coordinators. We also plan to connect great support coordinators to those in aged care or at risk of entering aged care.
The two winners of the 2018 Allen Martin Scholarships were announced at the Allen Martin Memorial Lecture in November.
Our CEO Luke Bo’sher and policy manager George Taleporos met with Royal Commissioner Lynelle Briggs and her team in November. We are very pleased to report that young people in residential aged care and the issues related to this group are a high and early priority for the Commissioner.
Applications are open for Summer Housing apartments in quality new developments in the Brisbane suburb of Woolloongabba and Sydney suburb of Rockdale.
2018’s Annual Public Forum, “From Hospital to Home”, brought together more than 150 hospital discharge professionals, people with lived experience and disability sector professionals to discuss the best ways to support people to return to living in their communities.
In January 2016, Will Cookesley had an accident that resulted in an acquired brain injury. The accident brought his close-knit family even closer, and for the past 2 1/2 years they have worked tirelessly to ensure that Will is able to regain as much independence as possible. Will was initially told it was unlikely he would walk again.