How our caring hands support Mr L

Southcare’s Community Support team helps with emergency relief, financial counselling and Aboriginal Family Support.  This is a real-life example of a customer that we helped and names have been changed for privacy reasons…

Mr L visited Southcare for assistance with his financial situation as he had fallen into arrears with a number of accounts and was struggling to buy groceries.

Mr L is a single man in his 50’s with prostate cancer. He was forced to give up work as a result of his health and his only income was a Newstart Allowance. He had very little in the way of support networks having immigrated to Australia some years earlier and had exhausted all his savings. 

As part of his treatment, Mr L was attending hospital daily for a period of 12 weeks.

The cost of hospital visits on an ongoing basis was very significant and as a result paying for food and other daily living expenses had become extremely difficult.

Southcare assisted Mr L with vouchers to the supermarket to ensure he could purchase food that was able to provide him with the necessary nourishment he needed during his ongoing treatment.

Southcare’s financial counsellor was able to assist with payments towards his utility bills and negotiate minimal payment plans to ensure essential services such as electricity remained connected. The financial counselling service also assisted Mr L to negotiate a moratorium on repayments with his mortgage. All in all, the support that was provided to Mr L relieved the very significant stress he was experiencing due to his financial circumstances allowing him to concentrate his energy on overcoming his health issues.

Mr L has now completed his treatment and has secured employment. 

What support do you need the most? Our caring hands are always ready to help.  Please reach out if you need.