Strengthening seniors inclusion and participation in Bendigo and Loddon

The City of Greater Bendigo and Shire of Loddon project worked with local community groups and organisations to create awareness of the needs of older community members so that these needs could be included in program planning and delivery.

It also strengthened local connections and referral pathways by building community capacity and interagency partnerships.

Wellbeing Teams were established to work with vulnerable community members.

The first was in the Bendigo U3A, which developed a movie morning to bring together people who had trouble accessing the commercial cinema.

The Wellbeing Team also tackled nutrition by hosting lunch after the movie morning.

The project also included library site activation and engagement, and digital literacy programs in Axedale, Inglewood, Elmore and Boort.

Museums Victoria helped to develop reminiscing kits, which the project used to connect seniors with younger members of the community. Author tours and book clubs will be developed in the future.

Training was also developed for clubs, libraries and volunteers to improve understanding of the service system, referral pathways, and accessing My Aged Care.

Two sporting clubs also participated: Woodbury Bowls Club and Eaglehawk Croquet Club.

Key achievements of this project were:

training sessions to help groups and volunteers identify the needs of seniors, and refer people to other supports
Wellbeing Teams formed at U3A Bendigo and at the Rotary Club of Kangaroo Flat
use of the reminiscing kit training from Museums Victoria leading to establishment of a working group to plan programs for seniors, including a ‘memory café’ and outreach reminiscing sessions
a group of socially isolated seniors were provided transport to enjoy a ‘memories of childhood’ session, followed by afternoon tea. They loved the reminiscing, sharing of stories and connection with others.

Project Leadership Group