In this story:
- Community housing provider recognised
- Top gong for dementia educators
- Hospital geriatric program wins awards
- Recognition for provider’s use of technology
Community housing provider recognised
Link Housing, a community housing provider in NSW, has been awarded the Community Sector Banking’s 2016 Community Housing Impact Award for Tenancy Management in recognition of its innovative community building strategies.
Link Housing CEO Andrew McAnulty said the organisation launched its tenant engagement and community development strategy FormingLinks last year to give tenants greater access to services and support, and enrich their lives through social engagement.
“We recognised the need to increase our tenants’ opportunities for social engagement, not only because it is widely known to be a key determinant for health, happiness and wellbeing, but also as we knew social isolation was a major issue for our tenants – 47 per cent live alone, many are elderly or have a disability,” McAnulty said.
Community Sector Banking CEO Andrew Cairns said community housing providers like Link Housing are working at the frontline of Australia’s housing affordability crisis.
Top gong for dementia educators
The University of Tasmania’s Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre’s work in dementia education has been recognised at the 2016 Australian Awards for University Teaching.
Eight UTAS staff received the award for their work in dementia education with a particular focus on the centre’s Bachelor of Dementia Care and the Understanding Dementia Massive Open Online Course (MOOC).
Associate Professor Alison Canty said the award was recognition of the program’s achievements, with more than 100,000 people around the world registering for the MOOCS and 4,000 in Australia who came through the Bachelor of Dementia Care while another 1,200 students are currently enrolled.
The Dementia Care Program team comprises Associate Professor Alison Canty, Professor Frances McInerney, Professor James Vickers, Professor Andrew Robinson, Professor Justin Walls, Doctor Carolyn King, Doctor Andrea Carr and Doctor Lynette Goldberg.
Hospital geriatric program wins awards
An innovative nursing project aimed at improving the care of older patients at hospitals has won a Queensland Premier’s Award.
The collaborative Geriatric Emergency Department Intervention (GEDI) project, a collaborative of the University of the Sunshine Coast, Nambour Hospital and the Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service, was named the winner of the customer focus category.
GEDI was developed by USC nursing academics and a team of doctors and nurses with specialist geriatric experience in the Nambour Hospital emergency department to provide quicker and more personalised treatment for older patients.
The approach is designed to decrease hospital and emergency admission rates for older people, reduce their length of stay and improve staff and patient satisfaction.
Professor of Nursing Marianne Wallis, who heads the GEDI team at USC, said the award was recognition for a project she hopes will improve the experiences of many older people when they visit hospitals across Queensland.
Recognition for provider’s use of technology
Anglican Care has been recognised for its work in technological aged care programs picking up a special commendation prize at the Aged Care & Disability Awards recently.
Its Life in Motion program uses Xbox Kinect games as a therapy to motivate physical activity among aged care residents.
The program was recognised for the social benefits for participants, together with some functional improvement, particularly in balance and upper limb movement.
Anglican Care’s lifestyle and wellbeing coordinator Jane Meldrum said the program has shown to have mental and social health benefits for clients.
The program is currently offered throughout Anglican Care’s Hunter, Central Coast and Manning facilities.
Have we missed an award? Send us the details and an image to editorial@australianageingagenda.com.au
