Carlow Age Friendly County Committee

Status: Ongoing

Evaluated

Carlow Ireland

Print this page City population: 5693218% over 60Practice started in 2013

Summary

Carlow has an active Age Friendly County Committee that works to deliver the Carlow Age Friendly County Strategy. The Carlow Age Friendly County programme began in March 2012 with the first Carlow Age Friendly Strategy launched in February 2013. This current strategy runs from 2017-2022 and is Carlow’s second such strategy.

All actions named in the strategy were developed due to and in direct response to a comprehensive consultation with older people and service providers in Carlow town and County who aim to improve the wellbeing of Carlow’s older citizens, from the private, statutory, community and voluntary sector. This provides the foundation which enables Carlow to continue to thrive on its Age Friendly journey.

Of particular importance to our older citizens is availability of resting and seating places and access to toilets; transport and access to services and social activities; social inclusion and participation. Carlow has high levels of older volunteers, with communities relying on their engagement in this capacity for services and social activities. A lot of the actions delivered show a coordinated response to ageing.

Key facts

Main target group: Both younger and older people (i.e. intergenerational)

Other target group(s): Carlows Age Friendly County Strategy is for every citizen in Carlow, as people of all ages benefit when communities are designed to be age friendly.

Sector(s): Other

Other sector(s): Our strategy details the 8 themes as identified by the World Health Organisation

Desired outcome for older people:
Meet their basic needs

Contact details

Name: Martina Walsh

Email address: martinawalsh@carlowcoco.ie

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

Engaging the wider community

Project lead: Other

Other project lead: Carlow Age Friendly Committee.

How collaboration worked: Underpinning the Strategy is an active and representative Carlow Age Friendly County Committee, who work alongside the Carlow Older Persons Forum and the Service Providers Forum to deliver specific actions. Older people face significant challenges. As our population continues to age, these challenges and difficulties will increase. Ensuring we have the supports and services in place to meet these needs is imperative; partnership work is essential to improve peoples experience of ageing. The Carlow Age Friendly County Committee is committed to encouraging opportunities where agencies can work together to listen to the voices of older people and utilize skills and resources to achieve positive actions. Membership of the Carlow Age Friendly County Committee at 8th December 2019. • Eileen Brophy, Independent Chair • Martina Walsh, Age Friendly PM, Carlow County Council • Teresa Hennessy, Senior Health Promotion Officer, Health Service Executive • Martha Jane Duggan, Coordinator, County Carlow Sports Partnership • Joe Butler, Chair, Carlow Older Persons Forum • Wayne Fennell, Vice Chair, Carlow Older Persons Forum • Fiona Dunne, Community Education Officer, Carlow Education and Training Board • Anthony Farrell, Inspector, An Garda Síochána • Conor Egan, Sergeant, An Garda Síochána • Essmay Mannix, Garda, An Garda Síochána • John McHugh, Lecturer, Carlow College • Rob Walpole, Service Manager, ALONE • Annette Fox, Social Inclusion Specialist, Carlow County Development Partnership • Helen Rothwell, Manager, Carlow Volunteer Centre • Fiona O’ Toole, Staff Officer, Carlow County Library • Niall Morris, Director of Services, St. Catherine’s Community Services Centre • Ray Whickham, Senior Engineer, Transport, Carlow County Council • Caroline Cullimore, Staff Officer, Planning, Carlow County Council • Pauline Hoctor, Senior Enterprise Development Officer, Local Enterprise Office, Carlow County Council

Older people’s involvement: Older people were consulted during the planning process

Moving forward

Has the impact of this age-friendly practice been analysed: Yes

Was the impact positive or negative:
Positive

Please share with us what you found in detail:
Carlow produced a Mid Plan report reflecting the work completed in the first 3 years of this 6 year strategy.

Feedback:
Carlow Age Friendly Committee have produced a Mid Plan Report. This Mid Plan Report reflects significant actions and achievements within the first 3 years of the strategy (2017-2019) The report represents the body of work delivered in County Carlow since the Strategy was first implemented in 2017 by the Carlow Age Friendly County Committee. Since the strategy was launched, the vision remains consistent; to continue to develop Carlow town and county as a great place to grow old.

Expansion plans:
Carlow Age Friendly County committee will continue to implement the Strategy

Looking back

Reflections:
The significant age friendly achievements made within the first half of the duration of the strategy are a testament to the commitment and ingenuity of the partners. Below are some examples of the work achieved so far in this strategy. • Carlow formally received an Age Friendly affiliation certificate in December 2019 in Slane Castle as part of a whole of Ireland celebration; Ireland is officially the first country to achieve a whole country formal membership to the World Health Organisations Global Age Friendly Network. • Age Friendly principles were included in the County Development Plan 2015-2021, Corporate Plan 2014-2019 and 2020-2024, The Local Economic and Community Plan 2016-2021 and Healthy Carlow County Plan 2018-2021. • Dedicated Older Persons Gardai were introduced in Carlow in 2018, including an Older Persons Champion and an Older Persons Liaison Officer. • Carlow were shortlisted at the National Age Friendly Recognition and Achievement Awards, which took place on Wednesday, 11th April 2018 for the project “Operation Age Friendly Roadshow” which commenced in Carlow in June 2017. • At the end of 2019, 23 communities had active community text alert groups. • In 2019, the Care and Repair programme had 320 clients. • A Stop Food Waste Programme and Master Composter Programme ran in 2018-2019 to minimise waste. • St Catherine’s Senior Alert Service enabled 584 older people to receive monitored alarms between 2017-2019. • 140 people took part in older adults walking workshops between 2017-2019. • A database for vulnerable older persons was developed in 2019, along with the creation of care boxes for these targeted individuals. • 67 older people availed of 4 six-week programmes which were delivered across Carlow to educate people with Type 2 diabetes. • A memory map was created with older people in Rathanna and intergenerational creative arts projects took place in Tullow and the Tullow Road. • Carlow libraries saw an increase in their collection of audio books by €32,027 and large print books by €10,316 since 2017. • The Traveller Health Programme, rolled out in 2017, provides a number of screening programmes for over 55’s on a continuous basis. • In 2017-2018, 563 hours of tuition were delivered to groups specific to older people. • In 2019, 10 groups involving older people were supported and received funding for Arts related projects. • Over 1300 older people received computer training in Carlow between 2017-2019. • The Older Persons Forum have an active age friendly website in place since 2019. • 68 older people in 2017 and 42 in 2018 took part in an older adults sports festival. • 220 older people were supported to age at home since 2018.

Challenges:
A lot of the actions delivered show a coordinated response to ageing. It is these partnership approaches which utilize the resources in Carlow to achieve the greatest outcomes.