Ageing in Place

Initiative title: Ageing in Place & Community & Voluntary Sector Reach: County:

[ ] Local

[ ]

National

Theme:

[  ] Lead healthier & active lives for longer [  ] Stay living in our own homes and communities [  ] Get to where we need to go, when we need to [ ] Be enabled by the built and social environment [  ] Feel and be safe at home and out and about [ ] Have the information we need to live full lives [ ] Be truly valued and respected [ ] Participate in social, economic and public life [ ] Continue to learn, develop and work

Contact:

Website:

Mary Deery, Administrative Office, Louth Local Authorities, County Hall, Dundalk, 042 9324 389 Mobile 086 803 2686 www.louthagefriencdlycounty.ie

Photos: ( please copy/paste two photos into document)

Issue/ Opportunity: Louth has a strong volunteering culture, however that culture is very different in rural and urban settings. Louth has 2 large urban areas Dundalk and Drogheda with 2 very different volunteer cultures. Louth also has an isolated rural community, the Cooley peninsula and a strong rural agriculture producing area in mid Louth with Ardee as the supporting town.

Louth achieved significant national recognition in volunteering efforts such as National Tidy Town Awards for Carlingford, Tallanstown, Ardee & Blackrock. There is also a strong GAA tradition in the county. The Louth Community & Voluntary Forum has 9 thematic areas namely: Disability, Intercultural, RAPID, Social Economy & Community Enterprise, Youth Work, Sports, Older People, Heritage, Residents Associations, Tidy Towns and Community Development. There are 180 groups registered with the Louth C&V Forum.

Having pulled together all voluntary groups of older people, the LOPF identified the second phase of supporting Ageing in Place as mobilising the wider Community & Voluntary Sector in 3 ways: 1. Preventing volunteers from becoming invisible when they are no longer able to volunteer 2. Making their premises and endeavours Age Friendly 3. Becoming “Age Aware” in their communities—recognising vulnerable older people and, where possible linking them to an age related volunteer service.

Two other challenges/opportunities presented at the same time: 1. Ageing Well Network promoting Time Banking 2. The restrictions of Data Protection Acts.

What was done: Initially, Aisling Costello from Ageing Well Network made a presentation on Time Banking to reps from LCC, Louth Volunteer Centre and Louth Leader Partnership.

Resulting from that presentation it was agreed that an audit of volunteer groups would be carried out in the county. Many agencies and organisations held data bases of voluntary groups but were restricted in compiling them into one due to Data Protection.

It was agreed at that point to set up a Volunteering group which would compliment the Louth Community & Voluntary Forum and within the confines of the Data Protection criteria compile one major list with consent to include contact details in a directory to be held on the Louth Community & Voluntary Forum website.

The Volunteering Group is made up of staff from LCC, Louth Leader Partnership, Louth Volunteer Centre, Citizen’s Information Services and HSE, Rehab, CAWT and Ageing Well Network. The objective of the group was to compile a directory of all community and voluntary groups in the county with the view to sharing information using the new C&V website, holding a C&V conference to launch the directory and website and create a greater appreciation of volunteers through the production of 2 x 3 minute DVDs which captures the volunteer’s experience and the service user’s experience of a voluntary service.

Louth Age Friendly is now in a position to access the wider community and voluntary sector through the directory and the C&V website. LAF sponsored the production of the DVDs and a support toolkit for voluntary organisations.

The aim of the LOPF is now to spread the message of Age Friendly to all community groups as above. Key actions include the signing of an “Age Friendly Charter” identifying 3 areas where they can become Age Friendly, a “Participation Awards Ceremony” and an Older Volunteer Award.

Key achievements: The directory of service is now a working document live on the Louth C&V website.

The new C&V website is launched with a significant emphasis on Louth Age Friendly through the production of the DVDs which captures volunteering for and by older people Louth Age Friendly County is now in a position to disseminate key important messages to all registered voluntary groups on ageing.

The LOPF have agreed to host “An Age Friendly Recognition Scheme for Older People” in the LOPF action plan for 2013-16.

For further information please log on to www.louthcommunityforum.ie & www.louthagefriendlycounty.ie