Older People
Kincardine & Mearns Mental Health & Wellbeing E Bulletin #4 August 2020
A chance to share what we know about mental health & wellbeing
in K & M.
Welcome to the fourth K & M Mental Health & Wellbeing E Bulletin. This month a closer look support for the older generation.
The number and proportion of people aged 60 years and older in the population is increasing. In 2019, the number of people aged 60 years and older was 1 billion. This number will increase to 1.4 billion by 2030 and 2.1 billion by 2050. This increase is occurring at an unprecedented pace and will accelerate in coming decades, particularly in developing countries.
Click on the link to find out some of the support and resource available for our older generation.
https://mailchi.mp/f2323958eebc/k-m-mental-health-wellbeing-e-bulletin-4230310
How have you experienced Dementia support across Aberdeenshire?
Have you or someone you know been diagnosed with Dementia? Do you support someone who is currently living with Dementia? If so then we need to hear from you!
The Aberdeenshire Health & Social Care Partnership (AHSCP) is currently in the early stages of developing an Aberdeenshire wide Dementia Strategy and is looking to hear from people affected by Dementia.
To support people with lived experience to tell us about their Dementia journey, we have developed a series of ‘Village Storytelling’ events. Developed in partnership with The Village Storytelling Centre and delivered by colleagues across the health and social care partnership and third sector, sessions will allow those taking part tell their story in a safe and supported environment.
Chair of the Integration Joint Board (IJB) Rhona Atkinson, said, “This strategy will set out how the Partnership supports those living with Dementia and their families over the next 5 years. It is such an important area for us, so it is vital that we understand what support people need, when they need it, what is working well and not so well, now.
“The team working on the strategy have set out a great way to support those who are already living with dementia to participate through the Storytelling sessions and I would urge anyone who is able to come along and join in”
Vice Chair of the IJB, Cllr Anne Stirling, said, “We need to hear from everyone, people with a diagnosis, Unpaid Carers, Volunteers, Third Sector Organisations, family members, professionals; everyone! Whether you do this through the storytelling sessions or through the online survey the team will support you to participate in a way that works for you”
Public events;
Dementia Storytelling session (Peterhead) – 3rd July 2019, tickets can be booked via – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dementia-storytelling-session-peterhead-tickets-63109065915
Dementia Storytelling session (Inverurie) – 4th July 2019, – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dementia-storytelling-session-inverurie-tickets-63107832225
Dementia Storytelling session (Stonehaven) – https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dementia-storytelling-session-stonehaven-tickets-63109373836
In addition to the public events any groups or care settings who would wish to hold their own storytelling session are invited to request one via integration@aberdeenshire.gov.uk
Online survey;
https://aberdeenshirehscp.limequery.org/489997?lang=en
The feedback gathered from the ‘Village Storytelling’ sessions and the survey will be used to develop and inform a draft strategy which will be widely consulted on prior to being finally agreed by the IJB.
Spare Chair Sunday
Spare Chair Sunday first launched in 2015 as a partnership between national charity Contact the Elderly and Bisto. Expanding on the charity’s model of free monthly Sunday afternoon tea parties for small groups of older people aged over 75 who live alone, Spare Chair Sunday encouraged people to offer a ‘spare chair’ at their Sunday lunch tables to a Contact the Elderly older guest and their volunteer driver, to share a delicious warm lunch all together. The response to the award-winning campaign was amazing, with over 1,600 Spare Chair Sunday volunteers hosting Sunday lunches or becoming regular tea party volunteers in their local community.
Any host homes or venues must have a downstairs toilet and be easily accessible (generally we say no more than three steps where possible).
Any car used must be fully insured and drivers must hold a full driving licence, as well as supplying two references and completing a DBS check. This is for the safety and security of guests and host.
Interested? Click on http://www.contact-the-elderly.org.uk/volunteer to apply to become a volunteer. Applications are dealt with as soon as possible, but please do be patient, all necessary checks must be made. In some cases, there will not be anyone near enough to you, groups may already have as many volunteers as they require, or there may not be a group in your area. It may be the case that your application may enable work to be launched in the area for the first time, enabling more older people to benefit!
Kindness within a Community: Combating loneliness and building stronger communities
Carnegie Trust UK have published their second report looking at loneliness and social isolation and the impact of kinder communities. The report finds kindness is a necessary ingredient of successful communities. However there are major factors that get in the way of engaging and encouraging kindness both in individuals and organisations. Read the report here
Linking Generations
Connections between generations are proven to enrich the lives of both young and seniors in long-lasting and meaningful ways.
When young people find ways to engage and develop relationships with the elderly, these experiences can build self-esteem, develop leadership skills, and encourage a lifelong commitment to volunteering.
For seniors, intergenerational connections provide the opportunity to transfer knowledge and wisdom, acknowledge self-worth, and feel they are contributing members of society.
In today’s world, many young people are experiencing less interaction with seniors because of homogenous neighborhoods, dispersed extended families, and increasing segregation of seniors living in care facilities or in isolation
Some of the benefits of intergenerational work include:
- Creation of age friendly communities.
- All generations have a lot to both teach and learn from each other and contribute to lifelong learning.
- Tackles issues around stereotyping and ageism.
- Increases understanding and respect between older people and younger people.
- Chance to make new friends and combats social isolation.
Healthy Mind, Healthy Body
As you get older, keeping your mind active and healthy can become a big challenge. Your mental abilities generally decrease with age, particularly if your brain is not stimulated much. If your mind is not healthy and active in later life, you can have an increased chance of developing dementia (otherwise known as Alzheimer’s Disease). As well as age, your mental abilities can be affected by medical conditions and any medication that you are on to treat these.
A healthy mind can work wonders for improving your general health. Nutrition is believed to play a key role in keeping your mind healthy and active, and a good diet is essential for maintaining your general health. Recommended nutrition for an active mind includes fresh fruit and vegetables, salads, an adequate amount of carbohydrates and plenty of water (and fluids in general).
Some experts have suggested that several of the mental changes that were originally believed to be the result of getting older are actually caused by your lifestyle. This means that making the effort to keep your mind active and healthy through regular stimulation can have definite benefits for your mental abilities.
This can involve going back into education, taking home study courses, involving yourself in a new hobby or interest, doing stimulating puzzles (such as crosswords and Sudoku), playing games that require you to think (such as Scrabble or chess), reading books , exercising on a regular basis and using brain-training programs.
How to Improve and maintain your mental wellbeing
National Conversation – Creating a Healthier Scotland: What Matters to You?
From August 2015 to April 2016 the Scottish Government is holding a 
national conversation on health and social care services in Scotland. The
conversation is seeking views on what a healthier Scotland should look like in
the next 10-15 years from now and how people in Scotland can be
supported to be as healthy as they can be. To help get the conversation
started three broad questions have been issued:
• What support do we need in Scotland to live healthier lives?
• What areas of health and social care matter most to you?
• Thinking about the future of health and social care services, where should
our focus be?
A facilitation pack is now available to help you host local conversations. This material is designed to give you a bit more background on the current situation in Scotland, where there have been successes and some of the long term challenges we face.
Join in the discussions online at: http://healthier.scot/
Twitter: @scotgovhealth #healthierscotland
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/healthier.scot
Email: healthier@scotland.gsi.gov.uk
OPEN YOUR DOOR TO WELLBEING
FREE EVENT!
OPEN YOUR DOOR TO WELLBEING
St Bridget’s Hall, Stonehaven
Saturday 31st Oct 2015
10am – 12noon
Come along to our FREE event!
Explore local opportunities to help you look after
Your health and wellbeing!
Stalls, refreshments, information and
entry into a FREE prize draw!
The Crerar Hotels Community Prize
‘When the old are not allowed to tell their story, the young grow up without history. When the young are not listened to, we lose unique ideas and have no future.’ Gunhild Hagestad, Ph.D., 1999 UN Year of the Older Persons’ keynote address
Crerar Hotels Trust is a charitable trust funded by the Crerar Hotel Group.
Giving back to local communities to improve the quality of everyday lives is at the heart of Crerar Hotels – our motto is “Hotels with Heart and Soul” – each year almost half of the hotel profits are entrusted to the Crerar Hotels Trust for distribution to charities and community projects local to Crerar Hotels throughout Scotland and Yorkshire. This year, in addition to these donations and as a pilot scheme, Crerar Hotels has decided to launch the Crerar Hotels Community Prize. This fund will be awarded to a local community project which brings together young and old people in a meaningful way. Read the rest of this entry »
Gourdon Primary Senior Citizen Club
Here at K & M Communities, we like to share with you the great things which are happening in our communities. Read on to learn more about the links being forged between the generations in Gourdon in the Gourdon Primary Senior Citizen Club.
P6 & P7 pupils from Gourdon Primary and senior citizens of the village come together to carry out intergenerational learning. The senior citizens club has been running at the school for over 6 years, there was a gap between the generations in the village so by creating this club it brings everyone together for greater understanding.
Interested, watch this short clip to learn more.
Would this work in your community?
Are You A Shedder?….
The Portlethen and District Men’s Shed is a new Scottish charity created to promote general wellbeing, continued life-long and life-wide learning and healthy lifestyles for retired men and men ‘with time on their hands’ who are looking to use this time constructively and enjoyably. They plan to do this by setting up a location or “Shed” where the men can go to engage in creative, enjoyable activities and meet and chat with other men. Various local government, NHS health, and volunteer groups in the community have identified a strong need for something like this. The Men’s Shed model has proven successful in Australia where there are over 1,000 in existence, New Zealand, Ireland, England and now Scotland. The first shed set up in Westhill, Aberdeenshire in 2013 has had over five thousand visits in a 18 month period with some of those men coming from Portlethen.
Read the rest of this entry »
K&M Communities 