Aboriginal Community Services would like to reflect on the 9 wonderful years we have been providing care to the APY Lands communities. With centres across Indulkana, Fregon, Mimili, Amata, Pipalyatjara and a residential facility in Pukatja, we are so grateful to have been embedded in community life and allow Elders to age on country.
ACS will be ceasing our services on the APY Lands, with the Department of Health and Aged Care having advised ACS on 30 January 2025 that the grant agreement for the APY Lands would not be renewed from 1 July 2025. They cited “This decision has been carefully considered in the context of our understanding that AECCS is experiencing increased viability pressures in providing NATSIFAC funded services in the APY Lands and Flinders and Far North”. This statement is true as ACS has been funding the shortfall in funding from our reserves.
Throughout our time in the APY Lands beginning in 2016, we navigated the complexities of remote service delivery, and highlighted to governments the unique context of Aboriginal aged care in remote areas. We performed the delivery of the Commonwealth Home Support Programme and transitioned communities to the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flexible Aged Care Program.
When COVID-19 came along with all of its ‘unprecedented’ qualities, we were able to adapt and continue to support the overall health and wellbeing of Elders.
Even in more recent times, we are proud of how we have supported community, and are inclined to reflect on what learnt from Elders in the APY Lands. The lives of our staff will be forever impacted from the wisdom generously shared with them by Elders they supported.
Supporting Elders to age on their country is an incredibly important job – and we are honoured to have been trusted by the community for these 9 years. Being able to stay on country is key to the social and emotional wellbeing and overall health of Elders, but not just that, to have Elders present means a more prosperous community as a whole, no matter the generation.
The APY Lands will always have a home in our hearts – many members of our organisation have family ties to the APY Lands, or have at one point called it home. The Department has said it will work in partnership with Elders to appoint an alternative service provider so that access to culturally appropriate aged care on the Lands continues. ACS will work with the Department to support employees transition to a new provider wherever possible.
Despite this change, ACS remains a leading not-for-profit aged care provider in South Australia, and will continue to serve and support more than 530 Elders across regional and metropolitan SA.
