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Planning tool for age-friendly communities; new dementia resource for residential aged care; new nutrition manual for aged care.

In this story:

  • Planning tool for age-friendly communities
  • New dementia resource for residential aged care
  • New nutrition manual for aged care
Planning tool for age-friendly communities

A new comprehensive toolkit has been developed to help local councils plan and create liveable communities for the ageing population.

The new planning toolkit
The new planning toolkit

Keith Rhoades, president of Local Government NSW, which developed the resource, said the Integrated Age-Friendly Planning Toolkit for Local Government in NSW would help councils, together with their communities, prepare for the demographic shift.

The toolkit provides comprehensive information, case studies and international research, with a focus on the built environment such as pathways, accessible facilities and outdoor spaces, and planning approaches.

“Councils play a vital role in creating age-friendly environments and this involves a whole-of-council approach, with planners, community service providers, engineers, architects, open space and recreation workers all contributing to the effort,” said Mr Rhoades.

“Local government needs to continue to work in an integrated cross-council way to respond to the challenges brought about by demographic change and create opportunities for local older people.”

The toolkit will also help councillors identify the key issues relating to population ageing and issues to consider when commenting on draft plans or policies from council or other agencies, said Mr Rhoades.

The toolkit was developed in partnership with the NSW Office for Ageing.

Click here to access the planning toolkit

New dementia resource for residential aged care
The Dementia Dynamic Toolkit
The Dementia Dynamic Toolkit

Aged care providers have a new resource aimed at helping them provide quality dementia care.

The Dementia Dynamics Toolkit is designed to help staff better understand dementia; improve their capacity to facilitate positive responses from people with dementia; build leadership capacity; and to use person-centred responses to situations which cause distress to residents, staff and families.

The toolkit was designed to help organisations educate their staff and build capacity in leadership to support person-centred dementia care. In particular, it aims to assist leaders and staff to address the needs of people with dementia expressed as behaviour.

The Dementia Dynamics Toolkit contains three components:

  • an e-learning disc for staff to complete individually or as part of in-house education in small groups;
  • a ‘personalising practice’ disc to support the translation of learning into practice; and
  • a manual for leaders and potential leaders to support the education process and facilitate practice change.

The toolkit is complemented by a website where residential aged care staff can get access to an online version of the manual, the e-learning disc, and several additional resources.

To introduce organisations to the Dementia Dynamics Toolkit, a series of workshops is currently being held across Australia.

The toolkit has been funded by the Aged Care Service Improvement and Healthy Ageing Grants program. It is being distributed free of charge to all residential aged care facilities.

Click here to access the Dementia Dynamics Toolkit

New nutrition manual for aged care
The Nutrition Manual
DAA launched a nutrition manual

The Dietitians Association of Australia has published the 2014 Nutrition Manual, which outlines how to provide adequate nutrition and special diets for residents in aged care facilities, as well as patients in hospitals.

The DAA said the Nutrition Manual is a concise, practical online manual with easy to follow guides to special diets, comprehensive food choices charts, suggested menus and nutrient analysis for each diet.

Input and comments from dietitians across Australia were collated and informed the publication.

The manual is targeted at catering supervisors, food service managers, diet aids and technicians, nurses, dietitians and nutritionists.

Click here to access the Nutrition Manual

Tags: Aged Care Service Improvement and Healthy Ageing Grants, Dementia Dynamics Toolkit, dietitians-association-of-australia, Keith Rhoades, Local Government NSW, NSW Office for Ageing, Nutrition Manual,

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