MURRAY JONES, HOST: The Minister for Aged Care and Seniors, Sam Rae, joins me this morning. Good morning, Sam. How are you today?
SAM RAE, MINISTER FOR AGED CARE AND SENIORS: I'm great, Murray. Thank you for having me on.
HOST: Nice to have you along. A little bit cool in Canberra this morning, I should imagine.
RAE: A lot cooler in Canberra this morning than last time when I was sitting in the studio with you, Murray, I can tell you that much.
HOST: Yeah, no doubt about that. Let's talk about some of the risk factors. And I guess the letter that I was outlining that's just about to go out basically talks about some of those things that are being flagged with Australians to consider. Because dementia, it causes a lot of pain for the sufferer and also for families as well, Sam.
RAE: That's very right, Murray. And this is a big issue and it's a growing issue in our community. Dementia is now the leading cause of death in Australia. Let that rest with you for a moment – the leading cause of death.
The important thing here is that half of the cases, they could be avoided or delayed. So there are things that we can all do as a community to look after our own brain health and, dare I say it, to encourage our loved ones to look after their brain health.
And so the government is sending out letters to 340,000 Australians, people who turned 50 in the last year, to try and get them to engage early. Fifty seems young, right, Murray? Like, 50 is a young time to start thinking about your brain, thinking about dementia. But the earlier we do it, the better chance we have of avoiding dementia and of making sure that we've got really long-term brain health. So we're sending out these letters. They've got 6 key risk factors that we're asking people to consider, as well as some follow-up information about how to assess your own risk and connect with your doctor or healthcare provider.
HOST: Now, we're talking about eating healthily, and things that we often talk about here at 4CA – staying active, taking the stairs instead of the lift, limiting your alcohol, quitting smoking, heart health and diabetes risk, keep them checked and keep them in order, and also to keep the brain active, I guess, some of those key factors. I hate to admit it, but I'm looking down the barrel of nearly 58 years of age, and something's come to me recently when it comes to brain health. Not quite sure which way I'll go here, but talking to the other half about learning to play a musical instrument. It's something that I've never really done successfully, but I think you talk about remapping the brain. It is just so important as we get older, Sam.
RAE: It absolutely is, Murray, and that's a great thing to do. We're never too young to start, and you're never too old to get on top of this, right? So everybody should be engaging with these opportunities. Learning a musical instrument or learning a language or just trying something that you've never tried before, teaching your brain to do something that it's a little bit uncomfortable with, it's such a great way to stave off some of these risks – and as you said, if you couple it with some other healthy lifestyle approaches around staying active, at looking after your heart health and you’re managing diabetes.
One of the really important ones that people don't often think about is about making sure that you're getting regular vision and hearing checks. That's a really important one as well, Murray, because vision and hearing is such an important way that we stay connected to people, connected to our communities, and they're key stimulatory inputs for our brain as well. So again, we're sending out these letters. We want people to start thinking really early on about what they can do, just modest changes to lifestyle, making sure that they're fit and healthy. We look after our hearts. A lot of people have quit smoking these days, Murray. We already know that.
And people know that you need to limit your alcohol intake. But – and of course, every time we go outside, we slip on a hat or slop on some sunscreen. But what we now need people to start thinking about is their brain health as well, because a little bit of early thought and a little bit of adjustment means we can drive down those dementia rates and Australians can live such richer lives for a longer period.
HOST: And when you basically mentioned there at the beginning too, it's the leading cause of death in Australia and something that is preventable to a certainly pretty solid degree, interestingly, there's also a free personal risk assessment you can actually do. You can actually visit a website online, I understand.
RAE: Yeah, absolutely, Murray. And that is on the letter itself, but it's not just people who get the letter that can go and have a look at that. If you Google the dementia risk assessment, you can find the link and you can go on and you can fill out the questionnaire. I've done it myself, Murray. It doesn't take very long. It's actually quite enjoyable.
HOST: Okay. I'll give it a shot.
RAE: It's thought-provoking. It makes you think about what you're doing to encourage your own brain health. You're never too young. You're never too old. We should all be thinking about our brain health, and these are some tools the government's providing to help people do it.
HOST: And I think when it comes to anything there that challenges the brain, even going through that process could be a really good thing.
Look, one thing before I let you go too, I'm keen to talk about – and we talked about this before we came on air, there's the aged care wait lists, but there's also the aged care wait times. And there's a new report there, and looking like we're driving some of those times down.
RAE: Yeah, that's right, Murray. As you know, I was up in Cairns earlier this year with big Matt Smith, one of the greatest people in the federal parliament. And one of the things that we were doing, we were visiting some organisations that were providing in-home care, as well as checking out some residential aged care. One of the things that we want to focus on, and Matt and I have spoken about this extensively, is driving down the wait times, because that’s what older people experience. That’s the reflection of their experience in the aged care system.
What we’re now seeing is wait times dropping across the board for in-home care services under our Support at Home program. People who are urgent priority, they always get their services within a month, Murray, but across the rest of the priority categories, those wait times are coming down.
Now, I want to be really clear, there's more work to be done here though, Murray. This is not a dusting-the-hands moment. We've got to keep driving those wait times down, and that's what Matt and I and all of the colleagues here are focused on so that we can ensure that every old Australian, no matter where they are, where they live, they can get access to safe, dignified and high-quality aged care services.
HOST: And look, even though there are ongoing challenges, I know some frustrations for people, I guess the good news there is those wait times are actually starting to reduce. So, some really good news there.
You stay warm, stay active, and I'm going to go and check out that website as well. Minister for Aged Care and Seniors, Sam Rae, it's always great to talk to you. Have a wonderful day, and we'll catch up again soon. Cheers.
RAE: Thank you, Murray. I’ll be looking forward to hearing your trumpet practice.