Alleviating Loneliness

Loneliness has long been a pressing issue for aged care residents, and the COVID-19 pandemic only magnified its impact. Loneliness in aged care should be viewed as a personal and social issue, as it stems from a lack of meaningful social relationships influenced by societal values and contexts. The stigma surrounding loneliness leads to "silent suffering," as many residents prefer not to share their feelings with family and friends.

mental health impacts of loneliness.

Financial constraints can also hinder the widespread implementation of ambitious technological goals. The introduction of robots and AI in aged care should be part of a comprehensive suite of services rather than isolated solutions. Ensuring that these technologies genuinely contribute to high-quality care and complement existing practices is crucial.

Promises regarding the capabilities of robots and AI in aged care often overlook the need for infrastructure conducive to technological innovation. In striving for quality relationships and meaningful interactions, aged care providers should recognise that digital technology can adversely affect residents needing more external social networks or families who are not actively engaged.

nternalising guilt and self-blame become common, despite residents having no control over their visitors or relationships. This stigma of loneliness further exacerbates other stigmas associated with aging, frailty, and the need for aged care.

While technology presents a range of benefits for aged care, including improved resident safety and streamlined administrative processes, it is essential not to rely solely on it to combat loneliness.

While pet robots and artificial intelligence (AI) companions have gained popularity, they may not fully address the complex social needs and negative

During the pandemic, digital technology benefitted seniors when used for rich interactions such as playing with grandchildren or catching up with friends and other family. However, superficial conversations and brief video calls often left residents feeling more disconnected and lonelier.

To bridge the digital divide, aged care providers can be pivotal in promoting digital literacy education among seniors. Encouraging residents to use technology for social interaction, such as video calls with loved ones, should be accompanied by regular training to foster independence. Proficient residents or volunteers can also contribute by assisting others, thus fostering meaningful relationships that combat loneliness.

Ultimately, technology should serve as a tool for real-life companionship rather than a substitute for it.

The Modular Stainless collection is fully modular and can be customised to suit any individual needs. It includes a comprehensive range of modular benches, sinks, tables, shelves, inlet/outlet benches, glass racks and trolleys.

Modular Stainless is attractive, cost e ective, hygienic, safe and easy to maintain and is ideal for installation in commercial kitchens as well as work areas in the hospitality, hotel and aged care sectors.

Hopeless By Colleen Hoover

Colleen Hoover returns with the spellbinding story of two young people with devastating pasts who embark on a passionate, intriguing journey to discover the lessons of life, love, trust – and above all, the healing power that only truth can bring. Sky, a senior in high school, meets Dean Holder, a guy with a promiscuous reputation that rivals her own. From their very first encounter, he terrifies and captivates her.

Something about him sparks memories of her deeply troubled past, a time she’s tried so hard to bury. Though Sky is determined to stay far away from him, his unwavering pursuit and enigmatic smile break down her defences and the intensity of the bond between them grows. But the mysterious Holder has been keeping secrets of his own, and once they are revealed, Sky is changed forever and her ability to trust may be a casualty of the truth. Only by courageously facing the stark revelations can Sky and Holder hope to heal their emotional scars and find a way to live and love without boundaries.

The Night Travelers By Armando Lucas Correa

Berlin, 1931: Ally Keller, a talented young poet, is alone and scared when she gives birth to a mixed-race daughter she names Lilith. As the Nazis rise to power, Ally knows she must keep her baby in the shadows to protect her against Hitler’s deadly ideology of Aryan purity. But as she grows, it becomes more and more difficult to keep Lilith hidden so Ally sets in motion a dangerous and desperate plan to send her daughter across the ocean to safety.

Havana, 1958: Now an adult, Lilith has few memories of her mother or her childhood in Germany. Besides, she’s too excited for her future with her beloved Martin, a Cuban pilot with strong ties to the Batista government. But as the flames of revolution ignite, Lilith and her newborn daughter, Nadine, find themselves at a terrifying crossroads.

Berlin, 1988: As a scientist in Berlin, Nadine is dedicated to ensuring the dignity of the remains of all those who were murdered by the Nazis. Yet she has spent her entire lifetime avoiding the truth about her own family’s history. It takes her daughter, Luna, to encourage Nadine to uncover the truth about the choices her mother and grandmother made to ensure the survival of their children. And it will fall to Luna to come to terms with a shocking betrayal that changes everything she thought she knew about her family’s past.

Separated by time but united by sacrifice, four women embark on journeys of self-discovery and find themselves to be living testaments to the power of motherly love.

For You And Only You By Caroline Kepnes

Joe Goldberg is ready for a change. Instead of selling books, he’s writing them. And he’s off to a good start. Glenn Shoddy, an acclaimed literary author, recognizes Joe’s genius and invites him to join a tight-knit writing fellowship at Harvard. Finally, Joe will be in a place where talent matters more than pedigree… where intellect is the great equalizer and anything is possible. Even happy endings. Or so he thinks, until he meets his already-published, alreadydistinguished peers, who all seem to be cut from the same elitist cloth.

Thankfully, Wonder Parish enters the picture. They have so much in common. No college degrees, no pretensions, no stories from prep school or grad school. Just a love for literature. If only Wonder could commit herself to the writing life, they could be those rare literary soulmates who never fall prey to their demons. Wonder has a tendency to love, to covet, but Joe is a believer in the rule of fiction: If you want to write a book, you have to kill your darlings.

With her trademark satirical, biting wit, Caroline Kepnes explores why vulnerable people bring out the worst in others as Joe sets out to make this small, exclusive world a fairer place. And if a little crimson runs in the streets of Cambridge… who can blame him? Love doesn’t conquer all. Often, it needs a little push.

The Deck By Fiona Farrell

What is the point of inventing stories when reality eclipses imagination?

A little way off in the future, during a time of plague and profound social collapse, a group of friends escapes to a house in the country where they entertain themselves by playing music, eating, drinking and telling stories about their lives. There are tales of thieves and pirates, deaths and a surprise birth, a freak wave and many other stories of misadventure resulting in unexpected felicity.

The Deck borrows the motifs of Giovanni Boccaccio’s 14th-century masterpiece, The Decameron, in which another small group gathered to avoid contagion and passed the time telling stories. But what is the role of fiction, this novel asks, as civilisation falters?

Games And Rituals By Katherine Heiny

The games and rituals performed by Katherine Heiny’s characters range from mischievous to tender: In “Bridesmaid, Revisited,” Marlee, suffering from a laundry and life crisis, wears a massive bridesmaid’s dress to work. In “Twist and Shout,” Erica’s elderly father mistakes his four-thousand-dollar hearing aid for a cashew and eats it. In “Turn Back, Turn Back,” a bedtime story coupled with a receipt for a Starbucks babyccino reveals a struggling actor’s deception. And in “561,” Charlene pays the true price of infidelity and is forced to help her husband’s ex-wife move out of the family home. (“It’s like you’re North Korea and South Korea…But would North Korea help South Korea move?”) From one of our most celebrated writers, our bard of waking up in the wrong bed, wearing the wrong shoes, late for the wrong job, but loved by the right people, Heiny has delivered a work of glorious humour and immense kindness.

The Golden Doves By Martha Hall Kelly

American Josie Anderson and Parisian Arlette LaRue are thrilled to be working in the French resistance, stealing so many Nazi secrets that they become known as the Golden Doves, renowned across France and hunted by the Gestapo. Their courage will cost them everything. When they are finally arrested and taken to the Ravensbrück concentration camp, along with their loved ones, a reclusive Nazi doctor does unspeakable things to Josie’s mother, a celebrated Jewish singer who joined her daughter in Paris when the world seemed bright. And Arlette’s son is stolen from her, never to be seen again.

A decade later the Doves fall headlong into a dangerous dual mission: Josie is working for the U.S. Army Intelligence and accepts an assignment to hunt down the infamous doctor, while a mysterious man tells Arlette he may have found her son. The Golden Doves embark on a quest across Europe and ultimately to French Guiana, discovering a web of terrible secrets, and must put themselves in grave danger to finally secure justice and protect the ones they love.

Martha Hall Kelly has garnered acclaim for her stunning combination of empathy and research into the stories of women throughout history and for exploring the terrors of Ravensbrück. With The Golden Doves, she has crafted an unforgettable story about the fates of Nazi fugitives in the wake of World War II — and the unsung female spies who risked it all to bring them to justice.