Ageing well
This week I attended a ‘community conversation’ event with the Commissioner for Ageing, Gerrard Mansour and sat next to/caught up with Anne who comes along to ACC on Fridays and is responsible for the gorgeous yarn 🧶 bombing around our centre.
The Commissioner talked about some of the prerequisites for ‘ageing well’. In particular he mentioned:
A positive attitude. Under this broad heading he talked about maintaining your self-belief that you are a valuable person as you retire and lose your long-standing value as an economic contributor in society, being open to the capacity to learn new things (like how to zoom and use myGov to upload your digital vaccination certificate!) and also being open and willing to accept support when needed (just get that hearing aid or that walker so you can keep participating in your community). Which leads to …
Social connections. He noted that since the pandemic he has seen three distinct cohorts in the over 60s - those that are raring to go and get out travelling overseas or around Australia in their caravans ASAP (or are back at neighbourhood houses the minute we open our doors), those that are balancing risk and vulnerability eg. attending events but wearing masks or going to outside events, and also a group that is still too worried to turn up.
And he expressed concern about those being left behind - those older Victorians who have become even more isolated because of their worries and fears about the pandemic and those who have not had the capacity to communicate and connect during lockdowns as much as others because they are not digitally literate.
I thought all these ideas were very interesting to think about, particularly in the context of our neighbourhood house where we actively create the space in our community to encourage social connectivity, care for the most vulnerable and promote opportunities for life long learning.
The conversation was attended by a suite of politicians … and it is great to know that they are hearing these messages, and real life stories from older Victorians - including stories from Darebin residents at the forum who shared their lived experience of being left behind …
