Loxton residents are creating initiatives to help people connect with aged care services.
Residents believe governments should be working harder to find solutions.
The SA government commends the initiative but says responsibility for aged care sits with the Commonwealth.
Fed up with the aged care crisis that has seen a record number of people stuck in hospital awaiting permanent support, one regional town has taken things into its own hands.
Loxton in South Australia's Riverland is about 250 kilometres from Adelaide and almost half of its residents are eligible to enter a retirement village.
As its population has aged, the need for increased services has grown, with just two care complexes in town.
Resident Sally Goode is the presiding member of the local health advisory council, when she is not tending to her chickens.
In her role, she has seen many people in her community struggling for support through what she believes is a "tortuous" aged care system.
More than 500 patients in South Australia were medically cleared to leave hospital last month but had nowhere to go.
Ms Goode established the Loxton Aged Care Expo in 2023, a bi-annual event that brings together providers and speakers to simplify the process of entering aged care.
She said she could not bear to sit back and watch people wrestle with the…