Home of our own

Andrew Mathieson
FOR loving siblings Chris and Nicole Jones, life’s fun again, just like when they little kids.
“My bedroom is right across from his,” said Ms Jones, 31, looking across to her 35-year-old brother as he smiled broadly.
“I’ve been known to throw my socks over to him for a bit of fun.”
Both had been stuck for more than a decade in separate aged-care facilities, robbing them of their bond in the prime of their lives.
Recognising the Geelong problem of young disabled people trapped in aged care, disability services provider Karingal committed to a purpose-built facility at Belmont to house five residents.
Temporary accommodation nearby will host Mr and Ms Jones until the Amundsen Street project is complete.
Ms Jones said her parents were also rapt with the change of address.
“They know they’re welcome and are happy to visit us much more often than when we were in aged care facilities with elderly residents,” she said.
Ms Jones was thrilled to finally find a place offering services for young people with disabilities
“I like this place – it feels like home. I have my own room, my own lap-top, I can shut the door and listen to my own music.”
Mr Jones was happy to survey his new place with his trusty pet dog at his side.
“Wherever I go, Dusty goes,” he said.
Karingal general manager Robyn Bradshaw said the latest respite-care initiative was more than four years in the making.
She said the lives of the Jones siblings were restricted in aged care.
“It (the new facility) certainly was about highlighting the fact that there was many young people living in nursing homes and it wasn’t appropriate for them to be living there,” she says.
“I suppose it shouldn’t take too much to think about walking in their shoes and imagining how dreadful it would be for them to be living in residential aged care.”