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Information Guide 2020 – Services for older people

Summary

An Information Guide of Services for Older People was produced in 2020 and will be updated annually. This guide formed part of the Health & Wellbeing Initiatives of the Clare Age Friendly Strategy 2018-2022. These guides were distributed to the Clare Cultural Companions members, Nursing Homes, Day Hospitals, those who avail of the Meals on Wheels Scheme and they were also distributed in the “Wellbeing Packs” for older members of the library who were isolated at home due to Covid 19.

Key facts

Main target group: Older people in general

Sector(s): Other

Other sector(s): We targeted most of the groups mentioned above for information to be included in the Information Guide

Desired outcome for older people:
Meet their basic needs

Other issues the Age-friendly practice aims to address:
  • Dementia
  • Elder abuse
  • Healthy behaviours (e.g. physical activity)
  • Inclusion
  • Participation
  • Technologies

Contact details

Name: Karen Fennessy

Email address: agefriendlyclare@clarecoco.ie

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

Engaging the wider community

Project lead: Other

Other project lead: Clare Older People’s Council and the Clare Age Friendly Alliance Board led and supported this project together with the Clare Age Friendly Programme.

Others involved in the project:
  • Local authorities
  • Older People’s Association
  • Social or health care provider
  • Volunteers
  • Private sector

How collaboration worked: The production of the Guide formed part of the Clare Age Friendly Strategy 2018-2022 under the Health and Wellbeing initiatives and the lead agency was the Older People’s Council (OPC) supported by the Clare Age Friendly Alliance Board. As well as consulting with the Clare OPC and the Clare Age Friendly Alliance Board numerous voluntary/support groups associated with older people were contacted to provide up to date details on their services. The members of the Clare Older People’s Council were consulted at all stages of the development of the guide and a final draft was submitted to them for approval. Following approval, the Age Friendly Programme together with the local authority’s in-house designer designed and prepared the Guide for outside printing. The design of the Guide was at zero cost and the cost of printing 2,000 copies was charged to the Age Friendly budget.

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

Details on older people’s involvement: The Older People’s Council had a role in the design and layout of the document and ultimate approval of the Guide.

Moving forward

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

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

Feedback:
Very positive feedback was received from the Older People’s Council, members of the public, Cultural Companions Members. They liked the simplicity of the document and it was easy to navigate to the contact details that were required.

Expansion plans:
This Information Guide will be updated annually.

Looking back

Reflections:
The Information Guide was a great success. After receiving some advice from the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA) we used plain English and separated the information into 9 different easy to follow categories with an easy to follow index and comprehensive list of contact numbers at the back of the guide. We will be updating this guide annually by contacting the relevant agencies/support groups to input and update as necessary.

Challenges:
During Covid-19 and level 5 public health restrictions, it was not permitted to leave booklets in public areas/counters, therefore we had to distribute the booklets to nursing homes, hospitals, Cultural Companions and advertise them by putting up posters on public notice boards.