Merle Carmicheal enjoys spending her days doing exactly as she pleases. 

In her case, volunteering, catching up with friends, reading, using her Ipad and watching telly.  Merle reckons she deserves it.  She retired eight years ago – at the age of 80! 

“Work keeps your mind sharp,” Merle says of her career as a real estate agent and her nearly four decades working at the TAB in High Street in Shepperton.  “It also keeps you busy and active.” 

Merle is also delighted to be enjoying her retirement in the lovely home she has lived in for the last 35 years, in the city that she loves.  She has lived in Shepperton her whole life, and her roots run deep. 

“It’s such a friendly community” says Merle. “Can you believe I still have friends from when I was in primary school?  I’m also still on GV Extended Auxiliary Care Committee and we raise funds for local causes.” 

One of the many fundraisers they held over the years was a fashion parade with Merle one of those sashaying down the catwalk. She also used to model for a local dress shop.  She still has a slim figure and beautiful skin.   

“I use normal face cream, nothing fancy, but I always wear a hat in the sun.  My Mum always warned me that if I kept on dyeing my hair it would fall out,” she laughs. “But I’m never going grey. Never, ever!” 

Her husband Geoff passed away 18 years ago, and Merle is very close to her two sons and grandchildren who are in Perth and Melbourne.  Photos of the happy family adorn her home.  Memorabilia provide a snapshot into her life: Geoff’s shell collection which includes some from the many cruises they took over the years and treasured ornaments including one of a porcelain cat. 

The self-confessed cat slave misses having a moggy around the house but thinks it’s better that way. “A kitten would probably end up playing with my oxygen tube – or even chew through it!” she chuckles.  “That wouldn’t be ideal.” 

Merle has emphysema and is on round the clock oxygen. It was after her diagnosis that she realised she needed a bit of help to live well and safely at home, and started making inquiries about how to make it all happen. 

She phoned My Aged Care, was assessed as being eligible for a home care package and then given a list of providers to choose from.  She contacted Uniting AgeWell – and the rest is history. 

“Uniting AgeWell is good, really good,” Merle says.  “I have cleaning services around the home, they also clean the gutters, sort out my oxygen tanks to me and even help with getting cab charges.” 

Working with her Care Advisor Teresa Knight, Merle also used her home care package to buy an electric reclining chair and a walker, after she had a fall. Now she’s working with Teresa to get a specially designed bag to carry a small portable oxygen cylinder when she goes out to visit friends or to the shops.  

“Nothing is too much trouble for Teresa,” says Merle. “It’s not like I even have to ask her things, she just comes up with all these ideas of how she can make my life easier and then discusses them with me.  How wonderful is that?” 

Merle is also being supported by the team to transition to the government’s new Support at Home program that replaces Home Care Packages on 1 November 2025. 

Uniting AgeWell provides services and care to clients scattered the length and breadth of the vast Hume area which includes Yarrawonga, Shepparton, Wangaratta, Cobram, Mansfield, Seymour and Wodonga.  Many clients live on farms, others in smaller towns around the region.  

“Our team at Uniting AgeWell value the importance of living safely and well in your home in the area that you love,” says Hume Home Care Program Manager Liz Grogan.  

“The values of the organisation including respect, kindness and inclusion are reflected in how we treat all of our clients. We are proud to walk alongside those who invite us to do so at this stage of their life.  People have already experienced so much and we hope that with our support their lives can continue to be rich and meaningful.” 

Liz says servicing such a vast region also provides ongoing career opportunities for people to be able to work where they live. 

To find out more about our home care services phone 1300 783 435 speak to our friendly team.