How to 'Make Home Work' [23/11/11]

‘A huge opportunity to transform how we support each other as we age’

During the first six months of 2011, Older & Bolder met hundreds of older people at our Forums on Health and Social care.  The clear message from those discussions was that health is about more than medicine alone.  Older people place a high value on access to GP, primary care and hospital services.  But older people also shared with us their broad understanding about what is needed to age well at home: accessible local transport, a secure income, involvement in vibrant community and voluntary groups, and clarity about the right – when illness occurs – to supports in the home and community. Older people’s understanding of healthy ageing has shaped the campaign that Older & Bolder is now launching:

MAKE HOME WORK - The right to age well at home.

Patricia Conboy Director of Older & Bolder said, “A change is needed in how we think about older people. As President Michael D. Higgins has so eloquently said, the following years will be an opportunity for transformation in Ireland. ‘We are on the threshold of a new era for Ireland and Irish people...’ His Presidency heralds a new era I believe for older people and the manner in which they have been perceived. We now have a huge opportunity to transform how we support each other as we age.”

Ms Conboy added, “We urgently need to change how older people are seen. Older & Bolder know from experience that older people are active participants in relation to their own health and well-being. Older people’s voices must now be listened to and this reality recognised.  They are active in their own regard and contribute enormously to families and communities. Also older people want to plan and to provide for themselves and various eventualities. But home and community supports are available on a discretionary basis.  There is a pressing need to establish the right to care in the home/community and to clarify what one’s rights and entitlements may be.”
 
For further information please contact: Roisin Boyd 087 798 9139/ roisin.boyd (at) ireland.com
Photographs of the event by Derek Speirs available on request free of charge

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OLDER & BOLDER NOTES TO EDITOR
The promotion of an age friendly and age inclusive society in Ireland is a core goal of Older & Bolder, an alliance of eight NGOs in the age sector.  The member organisations are: Active Retirement Ireland, Age & Opportunity, Alzheimer Society of Ireland, Carers Association, Irish Hospice Foundation, Irish Senior Citizens Parliament, Older Women’s Network and Senior Help Line.

• Typically older people are represented as consumers of health services, a drain, a burden in terms of increasing population and impact on health and social care expenditure.  O&B wants to flip that stereotype and present a more accurate picture of older people who are active in relation to their own health and well-being.  They are active in their own regard and also contribute enormously to families and communities.

• Talking about supports and services for older people, the emphasis tends to be on nursing homes, long stays in hospital beds, rising costs of the Fair Deal Scheme.  We also need to flip how we think about services and supports for older people.  A broader range of supports and services – transport, income, opportunities for involvement in community and voluntary groups – are vital to the well-being of older people; as indeed to quality of life of people of all ages. 
 
• We all need to plan for the future - as we age - for our future selves.  Currently it is very hard to do this because we have no guarantee – in event of illness – of supports in the home.  Older people want to plan and to provide for themselves and various eventualities.  But home and community supports are available on a discretionary basis.  There is a pressing need to establish the right to care in the home/community and to clarify what one’s rights and entitlements may be.