Club Sandwich

Club Sandwich You've got them. We've got you. The community for those caring for ageing parents, and everything else. Real talk. No platitudes or BS.

Weekly podcast, live events across Australia, people who respond at 2am 'same'. Just expert support that works.

10/09/2026

There are things about Australia's aged care system that need to be said out loud, and most people in a position to say them don't.
This week on Club Sandwich, Natalie Siegel-Brown, the former Inspector General of Aged Care, sits down with Sarah for a conversation that says the quiet part out loud: almost 100,000 families waiting on assessment, average waits pushing 300 days, and a system that leans on families to fill the gap while it falls short.
If you've ever felt gaslit by aged care, or just wondered why nobody in charge will say what everyone already knows, this conversation is for you.

Share it with someone who needs to hear it too.
🎧 Full episode out now wherever you get your podcasts, also on Youtube at .community

09/09/2026

The Watchdog for the Sandwich Generation.
Natalie Siegel-Brown spent years as Australia's Inspector General of Aged Care, holding government to account for the system meant to protect our parents. Now she's in the sandwich squeeze herself: a mum in Victoria, a dad in regional NSW, and an 11-year-old at home.
“I knew that when I was lying on my deathbed, I wouldn't be glad that I worked more. I would be glad that I spent time with my family."
The system relies on the sandwich generation. Can we rely on it? This week, Natalie tells us where it's failing families like ours, and where there's real reason for hope. A no-holds-barred chat. Don’t miss it.
🎧 Listen at clubsandwich.community

Drops tomorrow!

05/09/2026

"You always think you'll catch up on those celebrations. You never actually do."
Indira Naidoo worked nights for her whole media career, and she says you don't really notice what it costs until you reach this age.

The birthdays, the barbecues, the anniversaries, the festivals. All of it quietly filed under later.

These days she structures her life around not missing them. A Sunday lunch together is genuinely special, because for years there weren't many.

You can think you are being present when you are sending a text and making a quick call, but it is not the same as being in the same flow, in the same 24 hour cycle, as the rest of your family.
🎧 Full episode: www.clubsandwich.community
Link in comments and all episodes on Youtube.

What's the thing you told yourself you'd catch up on later? 👇

03/09/2026

"The discussion shouldn't even be about ageing. It's about how to live well."
Indira Naidoo starts her days with a question most of us never get to ask: what do I want to do today, and how do I make sure that is how I spend it? How will I be creative, how will I be stimulated, how will I be connected to nature, or how will I just sit quietly under my tree?
Then she says the thing that stings. Busyness used to be a badge we all wore, and it holds no attraction for her now.
The trouble is that plenty of people in the sandwich years are trapped in a busyness they never chose. As Sarah put it, you look back and think, I haven't allowed enough space in my life.
Brought to you by Australian Unity Home Health and Care, built on the same idea: the goal is living well, not managing decline.
🎧 Full episode: www.clubsandwich.community
Link in comments

If you had a genuinely free day this week, what would you actually do with it? 👇

03/09/2026

"Every year I feel happier. Every year I'm more content. I'm settling into myself more and more."
That's Indira Naidoo, and it is not how most of us were taught to think about getting older.
She goes further. She says she cannot imagine how good it will feel to be her at 80 or 90. Not how she will cope. How much she will love being herself.
And she has a beautiful way of framing the whole thing. We are the same as a tree. The leaves crumble, they nourish the ground, it all comes back around. It is not an illness, it is a natural process, and she thinks we might be the last generation who still understands that.
🎧 Full episode: Link in comments.
www.clubsandwich.community

Do you feel more yourself now than you did at 30? We would genuinely love to know 👇

03/09/2026

"It's not downhill from here. It's uphill."
Indira Naidoo got a call out of the blue from a casting agent, auditioned on a whim, and is now about to appear on stage at the Opera House with Sydney Theatre Company. Not bad for someone who has spent her career behind a microphone.

This week she and Sarah talk about play, creativity, and taking on something new when you are already squeezed from both sides. The best things in a life, as Indira puts it, are almost never the ones you planned.

The sandwich years get talked about as an endurance test. This one is about what else is still possible.

🎧 New episode out now. www.clubsandwich.community
What's the thing you'd say yes to if someone rang you tomorrow? 👇

01/09/2026

Our health and aged care systems step in when someone is already frail.
The thing that actually protects independence is strength work, started years earlier.

Prue Bowden is Group CEO of Australian Unity Home Health, and she joined Sarah on the podcast this week to talk about the sandwich years.

Strength, movement and staying connected to people are what keep someone well at home, and Prue sees all three in her own parents. Her dad still sails twice a week. Her mum walks the dog every day. And both of them, in their late 70s, are doing strength training.

Because the stronger your parent is, the less likely the fall. And the fall is what changes everything: the confidence, the independence, the whole trajectory.

It applies to you too, especially the women reading this. The work you do in your 50s and 60s is what your 80s are built on.

Full episode at www.clubsandwich.community
Anyone got a parent who lifts, swims, sails or walks everyone else into the ground? We want to hear about them 👇

29/08/2026

"Sometimes that's their only interaction all day."
This is the part of ageing at home that nobody warns you about.
The bank branch closed.
The shopping moved online.
The errands that used to put your mum or dad in front of another human being have quietly disappeared.

Prue Bowden calls loneliness one of the most hidden consequence of ageing at home, and she is clear that it happens even in families who are close and involved.

If your parent lives alone, ask them directly whether they ever get lonely. Most won't bring it up, and most will tell you they're fine. It is worth asking twice.

Full episode at www.clubsandwich.community
Link in comments.

Who checks in on your mum or dad during the week? We would love to hear how you keep them connected 👇

28/08/2026

Caring for an ageing parent? Start before you think you need to. 🥪
"If you're standing beside a hospital bed, it's way too late." Prue Bowden, CEO of Home Health at Australian Unity.
Her message for the sandwich generation: get support organised for your mum or dad before there's a crisis, not after. Once there's been a fall, confidence and independence don't simply bounce back - and the queue for care in the home is a long one.
Even if the answer today is "I'm fine, darling," the conversation is worth starting now. 💛
🎧 This week’s episode is full of practical tips that you will as find so helpful! Link in comments.

Find all you need to know at
www.clubsandwich.community
Subscribe to our weekly blast The Filling and find the solidarity and support that you’ve been looking for.

You’ve got them. We’ve got you.

28/08/2026

We talk a lot about getting help in place for a parent. We talk much less about what that help actually does once it's there.

Prue Bowden, Group CEO of Home Health at Australian Unity, describes it plainly: her care workers are observing the food in the fridge. They're observing the person, and whether they're steadier or shakier than last week. They notice what a phone call and a Sunday visit can't.
She calls them the front line, and she isn't being sentimental — they're frequently the first to know something has changed, and that early warning is often what keeps a small problem from becoming a hospital admission.

Asked whether people are trained to be that observant, or whether it's just who they are, her answer is both. People who do this work are drawn to it because they're built for care, and that means seeing the person, not just the task.

And they're often the only proper conversation someone has all day.

So Sarah's closing advice is worth taking: be lovely to them. Ask them what they think. 💛
This week Prue Bowden joins Sarah Macdonald on Club Sandwich. Out now. Link in comments.
Brought to you by Australian Unity Home Health and Care: proactive local care that helps your parents stay independent and living well at home.

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