Rob’s Independent Living Fund

My name is Janine and I am the full time carer for my dear friend Robert. Robert has been living with me and my family for 7 years now, ever since he had a major stroke that left him with an acute brain injury resulting in minimal short term memory, an inability to visually recognise people and every day objects and thus no ability to live alone. When he came to live with us initially, it was to be a temporary arrangement so we converted our triple garage into a liveable space to create a small independentish unit for Robert which would allow him his own space but still access to 24/7 support from our family (since there are many basic activities of daily living he can no longer safely do. I say independentish because with the nature of the house (being a slab) we could not afford to install a kitchenette or bathroom for him and since it was temporary the need was not great since he could access ours inside the house and he can’t cook for himself in any case. Circumstances then changed and it became that Robert would either stay with us or go to supported accommodation/nursing home facility of same sort. He desperately wanted and continues to want to stay with us however circumstances continue to change. Robert has some disability support but following a three year battle to obtain funding from NDIS to have these basic home mod needs met, he has been refused funding to install an en-suite in his unit (our modified garage). Thus he continues to have to access our home 24/7 and share a bathroom with 3 children ranging from 10-15 years of age. This raises all manner of issues for a Robert (since items placed in the wrong place can’t be identified and so wrong items are used and finding his way out of the unit into the house, through the house to the bathroom and back in the night time is exceedingly challenging) and also for the kids who can’t reasonably be expected to return everything to exactly the same position, and for whom, having reached puberty, sharing a bathroom with an unrelated adult male causes great challenges and privacy issues. Robert’s and the children’s need for greater privacy and independence are now causing significant stress and distress for all concerned and placing significant pressures on Robert and the family. Hence we are trying to raise funds to either pay for the installation of an en-suite and sink in his existing space or fund the purchase and installation of a semi permanent cabin onsite (which believe it or not is likely to be cheaper). The funds we need to raise are in the vicinity of $30,000. This would enable us to continue to care for Robert at our home instead of having to seek out alternatives for him (which would be worse for him personally and more expensive for society since our care is entirely voluntary). This would significantly increase Rob’s independence and privacy and relieve significant pressure from us as a family. We really hope you are able to help. Thanks for listening.