Thuy Linh Nguyen is a community organiser and campaigner dedicated to building the power of marginalised communities to drive systemic change. She is a Social Justice Lead at Uniting NSW.ACT, where she leads Uniting’s climate justice campaigns and high‑level government and Pacific stakeholder engagements. Previously, she was the Director of Innovation and Impact at the Multicultural Leadership Initiative and led the Voices for Power campaign at the Sydney Alliance, empowering culturally diverse communities on energy justice.
With an established history working in civil society coalitions and partnerships, and with grassroots communities, she seeks to push for a shift towards clean energy that support people experiencing the worst impacts and leaves no one behind.
Cost of Climate in Aged Care – Examining Care, Workforce and Sustainability Impacts and Looking at What We Can Do
Extreme weather is no longer a future risk for aged care. It is already affecting service delivery, workforce wellbeing and the experience of older Australians receiving care. Drawing on one of Australia’s largest studies of extreme weather impacts on aged care and community workers, this presentation explores a challenge often hiding in plain sight. Climate change is increasingly influencing care delivery, workforce wellbeing and organisational sustainability, yet is rarely recognised as a core aged care issue.
Recent national research commissioned by the UnitingCare Australia Network and Uniting NSW.ACT found that more than 9 in 10 frontline workers across aged care and community services experienced floods, heatwaves, storms, cyclones or bushfires in the past five years. Heatwaves were the most common hazard, affecting 77% of respondents. Many workers described supporting vulnerable people while simultaneously managing impacts on their own health, safety and families.
The implications for aged care providers are significant. Heatwaves are Australia’s deadliest natural disaster and contribute to higher mortality, worsening chronic illness and increased demand on health and care services. Emerging evidence also highlights the role of humidity in driving dangerous heat-health impacts, particularly across northern Australia. Yet many of these effects remain largely invisible as heat-related deterioration is often attributed to falls, underlying illnesses or frailty.
Climate impacts also contribute to workforce disruption, service interruptions, recovery and resilience activities that impact operating and capital costs. Despite this, adaptation is often viewed as a future challenge rather than a current operational, clinical and financial reality.
Uniting NSW.ACT and BlueCare collectively support more than 88,000 older people each year across Queensland, New South Wales and the ACT. Combining national research findings, lived experience from major disasters and BlueCare’s climate adaptation work, this presentation explores what climate impacts look like in practice for providers, workers and the people they serve.
We will share how BlueCare has translated evidence into action through climate risk assessment, heat-health resources developed with Griffith University, workforce preparedness initiatives and seasonal planning. We will also examine the growing cost of climate and the actions needed to strengthen resilience across aged care.
Participants will leave with practical insights, implementation lessons and resources to strengthen climate resilience within their organisations. Most importantly, the session will challenge delegates to view climate change not as an environmental issue, but as a present-day driver of clinical risk, workforce pressure, service disruption and sustainability that is already reshaping care.