Page 2993 - Week 08 - Thursday, 25 June 2009
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would like to acknowledge a past member of the council, Anne Murray AM, who is also the head honcho of the Woden seniors.
The department is also working across government with key community organisations to formulate the plan. Clearly, in developing such a plan, it is essential to really listen to what older Canberrans have to say about their experiences, their needs and their aspirations. In March this year, as part of a community consultation, I held three forums to do just that. Each forum was attended by more than 80 people; we also received more than 30 written and verbal submissions.
I have made it clear that the proposed plan will focus on those areas where the government, in partnership with individuals and the community, can make a real difference. And based on what we have heard, we are developing a draft plan that we will be taking back to the community to check that we have hit the mark with our priorities and strategies. We will welcome further ideas to improve that plan.
There are, however, limits to what governments can achieve alone. The fact remains that ageing is a lifelong process, as I have mentioned, that requires some personal and community responsibility. Governments can provide and promote services and activities, but they cannot force people to choose healthy lifestyles, whatever their age. We can provide people with useful and accessible information that will help people make choices and provide them with appropriate and accessible services should they choose to use them.
I will now focus on a number of key areas that the community has identified for action.
The first of these, not surprisingly, is the promotion, support and encouragement of health and wellbeing. This government already has many programs that support healthy lifestyles at all ages through access to a multitude of health services and care options. In addition to investing in general and aged-care specific health services, we also heavily promote, for example, the need for regular exercise, the need to quit smoking and the need to drink in moderation. Examples of this work include the “Find 30”, the “Go for 2 and 5” and the “Keep moving” campaigns, the latter being aimed specifically at older Canberrans through a partnership between ACT Health and Sport and Recreation Services ACT. The ACT chronic disease strategy of 2008-11 is a key ACT government strategy which sets the direction for chronic disease prevention, detection and management.
In terms of wellbeing, the government needs to further encourage older Canberrans to stay socially and productively engaged through work, volunteering, recreational activities, lifelong learning and involvement in the community generally. These are all the ingredients of positive ageing. In that title, the essential word that we are using is “positive”. That is the big call here; it is about positivity.
Future work needs to build on and improve these programs. We also need to meet the challenge of finding better ways of motivating people to establish early patterns of healthy living and provide support to maintain them.
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