Care at the heart of awards
Aged care researcher Professor Samar Aoun and former chief operating officer of BallyCara Paul Johnson were among several aged care sector workers recognised at the Australia Day honours.

Aged care researcher Professor Samar Mouin Aoun is one of the 457 people honoured in the General Division of the Order of Australia this year, and one of 108 of those appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, or AM.
Professor Aoun has been honoured for her significant service to community health through palliative care, aged care research and tertiary education at the 50th Australia Day honours.
After a background in public health, Professor Aoun told Community Care Review she began focusing on palliative and aged care research after learning more about motor neuron disease.

Currently, Professor Aoun works to increase awareness on the importance of death-literacy. With Compassionate Communities Australia, which she is director and chair of, Professor Aoun has empirically shown the importance of community involvement in caring for older Australians and those with life-limiting illnesses. The research has improved on both social connectedness and has reduced hospital admissions.
“It’s about trying to build the capacity of the community to be able to help,” she told CCR.
“We are facing a tsunami of ageing that we’ve never faced before and so for the last few decades the community has been really de-skilled in terms of … knowing that it is their responsibility to be able to support people towards the end of life.”
At the same time, Australia is also facing a tsunami of death, Professor Aoun added.
“All the baby boomers are dying in the next 20 years and so we’re finding ourselves in a situation where all of us are dying in hospitals and we’re not going to have enough hospitals, or even workforce – palliative care or other workforce – to actually look after people.”
This path is unsustainable, expensive and not what people want, she said.

One of the key obstacles in communities gaining death literacy is overcoming the mindset that death is a medical event with a social component, rather than a social event with a medical component, Professor Aoun told CCR. Redressing this balance in the community is the “only solution moving forward,” she said.
“Everybody is going to die, so I cannot see anybody who is not going to be interested [in knowing] how you prepare for your end of life in a nice way, what’s the best way of getting a good death,” said Professor Aoun.
“I like to normalise speaking about death, dying, grief and loss; that’s what the people want.”
More conversations in the community about it will reduce the taboo, stigma and fear surrounding death, and lead to more people planning for it in the same way they plan a wedding, baptism or other milestone, she said.
“It’s a major event in one’s life and yet it gets to be so ignored.”
In 2023 Professor Aoun was named Western Australian of the Year, and said she is ecstatic that through the Australia Day honours the concept of death literacy for aged care and palliative care will now be available to a national audience.
Outside of her work with Compassionate Communities Australia, Professor Aoun is Perron Institute Research chair in palliative care at the University of Western Australia, Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science, and adjunct professor at La Trobe University. Professor Aoun also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from MND Australia in 2024 and received a Medal for Excellence from the European Society for Person Centred Healthcare in 2018.
Paul Johnson among other aged care sector recipients
A total of 732 Australians were honoured for distinguished services to the Australian people this year.
Those recognised in the aged care sector include the late Paul Johnson, who was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia, or OAM, for his service to aged welfare.

For 10 years Mr Johnson was the chief operating officer of the charitable organisation BallyCara, which provides home care, wellness, short-term restorative care, retirement living and residential care services nation-wide.
His colleagues remember Paul as a selfless and passionate advocate for positive ageing and are thrilled his dedication has been recognised.
BallyCara executive chairman and colleague of Paul, Marcus Riley, told CCR that Paul undertook his work with immense passion and that he was elated the impactful work he did for the sector and directly with the community during his two decade-long career was being recognised at such a high level.
“People are absolutely thrilled that Paul’s work has been recognised and that there’ll be support for his legacy to live on,” he told CCR.

“The family is very proud and very excited that he’s been recognised in this way and obviously in particular Paul’s children… To see the impact that their father had, and as I said before, that his impact and legacy very much lives on, and he continues to inspire people.”
Elsewhere, Professor Paul Glare was appointed AM for his significant service to medicine in the field of pain management and palliative care. Since 2016, Professor Glare has held director roles at the Pain Foundation, Michael J Cousins Pain Research Centre, and the Pain Management Research Institute at Kolling Institute.
Also awarded an OAM, Judith McKee was honoured for her service to the community of Melbourne, which included establishing and managing the Mt Eliza Aged Care Assessment Service (1986-2005) and her involvement in the establishment of the Mt Eliza Centre Cognition and Dementia Assessment and Memory Service. She was also the Aged Care Assessment Services Liaison Group of Victoria chair for seven years and a council member and former chair for the Victorian Council on the Ageing (c1976-2000).
The late Dr Patrick John Shanahan has been awarded an OAM for his service to dentistry. He was a pioneer in establishing oral care standards in aged care legislation. From 1983 to 1986 he was a dental public health research officer for WA Public Health, focusing on unmet dental needs of those in western Australian aged care facilities.
In 1988, as the owner of Oral Care Australia (trading as Denta Med) Dr Shanahan operated a Commonwealth funded nursing home program to achieve better oral health outcomes, the first of its kind for WA. Through this he contracted services to 30 aged care facilities throughout WA. In 1988 the program was terminated due to changes in government funding.
Public Service Medal
Emma Gleeson was awarded a federal public service medal for outstanding public service in the development and implementation of the Australia Government’s response to the Fair Work Commission’s historic Aged Care Work Value Case. Under Ms Gleeson’s management a 15 per cent pay rise was secured, fully funded by the government, for direct care workers, including nurses and personal care workers.
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