Page 1099 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 30 March 2011
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everyone will recognise those names. COTA also promote the positive aspects of ageing and the contributions that older Australians make to the wider community.
Encouraging our seniors to remain active and engaged with the community improves their health outcomes and self-esteem. Obviously, this is a win for the seniors themselves, but it is also a win for the community at large. Not only are health costs lower, but the expertise and wisdom acquired over lifetimes is still available and still being used for the common good.
Many of the things that older people need to help them to continue to be productive members of society are provided by community organisations. Those who are looking for opportunities to contribute, for example, have access to a network of volunteering organisations through COTA. For those who want to help but do not know where to start, this is a valuable resource. There are many volunteering opportunities available, from helping primary school children with reading to assisting those even older citizens who live in residential aged care. COTA also provide a seniors information line to advise on services available to older people and a housing options adviser. Through surveys and focus groups they have identified gaps in services and policies, and lobbied on behalf of seniors to have these omissions corrected. Without them, the debate in the ACT would be much less informed.
Another area in which community groups make a valuable contribution is in the provision of educational resources. Lifelong learning is an important element in mental health indicators and ageing. Opportunities to learn new skills or to extend previous learning must meet certain criteria to be accessible to seniors: it must be affordable, since many retirees have limited disposable income; it must be flexible, since health and transport problems might make it difficult to attend regular classes; and non-traditional formats such as online learning can allow people to study at the time and place they choose.
There are many courses like these available in Canberra, often run by community organisations. As I have already mentioned, the University of the Third Age is one of the best known, offering courses on a wide variety of subjects to people aged over 50. The teachers of these courses are often seniors themselves, generously sharing a lifetime’s accumulation of knowledge with others.
Another organisation which Mr Hargreaves has mentioned is Communities@Work. They run several initiatives, including computer workshops for older people, and their wonderful program Super Grans, which links young families struggling with budgeting and time management with carefully picked older volunteers who share the tricks and tips of household management that they have learned over the course of many years. I think this is a wonderful example of how we can use the knowledge that older people have to serve the community.
There are also several very successful community programs for seniors in Brindabella that are co-coordinated with Communities@Work. The Tuggeranong Men’s Shed, a group I have spoken about previously, allow older men to maintain social contacts by doing rather than just talking. They are an extremely important group in terms of mental health, because we know that men engage differently with the health system.
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