Adding life to years
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Summary

Background
Macedon Ranges Shire Council (Council) provides services and support to older people through the Commonwealth Home Support Programme, including a service called Social Support Individual, which is primarily delivered by volunteers. Through this service, Council offers the Digital Connect Program.
There has been an increased need and interest from older people and clients to broaden their skills and knowledge in using technology. There have also been reports of older people experiencing increased loneliness and isolation. Council’s Healthy Ageing Engagement Team is committed to supporting and addressing the needs of older people to be socially connected.

The COVID-19 pandemic first affected the Macedon Ranges community in March 2020, further increasing older people’s loneliness and social isolation. As a result, the Commonwealth Home Support Programme approved the expansion of the Social Support Individual service to allow eligible clients to access financial support to purchase a digital device and/or internet connection.

Project Brief
To respond to the growing social isolation of older people, Social Support Individual funding from the Commonwealth Home Support Programme was used to implement the Digital Connect program. This program funds eligible clients to access an IT device such as a tablet, laptop or phone. The Digital Connect program also provides the option of one-on-one support with a Council volunteer or Community Connection Worker (in-home support worker) who acts as a digital mentor. These one-on-one sessions provide clients with support on how to use their devices and encourage them to develop new skills and confidence, as well as increasing their social connections during a time of isolation.

Key facts

Main target group: Older people in general

Sector(s): Information and communication

Desired outcome for older people:
Learn, grow and make decisions

Other issues the Age-friendly practice aims to address:
  • Accessibility
  • Ageing in place
  • Participation
  • Technologies

Contact details

Name: Naomi Scrivener

Email address: nscrivener@mrsc.vic.gov.au

Age-friendly practice in detail (click to expand):

Engaging the wider community

Project lead: Other

Other project lead: Macedon Ranges Shire Council

Others involved in the project:
  • Social or health care provider
  • Volunteers

How collaboration worked: The Digital Connection for Seniors Project Working Group consisted of seven community organisations. These organisations collaborated to streamline an approach to accessing digital connection services for older people, in order to get the best outcomes for each individual. Each organisation’s program was promoted through the Digital Connection for Seniors Project, which was a big help in the initial stages. Being part of this working group also meant that each organisation was aware of others were doing in the digital connection space, and allowed us to refer onto other organisations when our services may not have been the best fit for the older person.

Older people’s involvement: Older people were involved in the age-friendly practice at multiple or all stages

Moving forward

Has the impact of this age-friendly practice been analysed: No

Do you plan to evaluate your age-friendly practice? Yes

Feedback:
The feedback received from both the Digital Connect program and the Digital Connection for Seniors Project has been overwhelmingly positive. Some quotes are listed below: “Joy was very excited- she has had a Digital Connect session and has been given an ipad on loan, to use. She is really keen to become more digitally competent, so that she can enjoy sending / receiving photos and videos with family and friends. She is likely to purchase her own ipad as she finds it so much easier to use than her mobile phone. Thanks heaps to Stephanie Vassilios and the Digital Connect team!”- Community Connection Worker “I am more confident and can easily find the game page and my photos”- Digital Connect Program participant “I’m much better and I’m starting to remember things again.”- Digital Connect Program participant “My client was very grateful for your assistance and reports she has been able to attend the online Cardiac Rehabilitation group and use her digital device to connect to others in the community; she has even been able to guide her husband through how to use it. A great initiative that has helped this client achieve what was previously very difficult”- Community Connection Worker

Looking back

Challenges:
The impact of COVID-19 was the biggest challenge we faced. During 2020-21 the volunteers we would normally rely on to deliver our services, including Digital Connect, were stood down for approximately 12 months. In order to address this we were able to utilise staff members to provide older people with the one-on-one digital support. It was also necessary to implement a range of infection control measures to keep clients and their digital mentors safe and to adapt t changing levels of COVID-19 restrictions. We are now able to use volunteers again but approximately one third of our volunteers decided to not resume volunteering with us, leaving us with more clients needing digital support than volunteers available. To address this we are actively recruiting volunteer digital mentors on social media. Where possible, if a volunteer is not available, we have paired clients with Community Connection Workers, or if appropriate referred them to other organisations who can provide them with the support and advice needed. Another issue has been participants not necessarily knowing what they wanted to learnOur digital mentors have an initial meeting with each client to identify their interests and reasons for wanting to increase their skills, and to provide them with information and options. This assists the client in establishing their goals and the ongoing support they receive helps them build their confidence and skills.