2023 Review

Healthy Ageing and Community Care Symposium– Social Isolation

This event brings together academics, students, aged and home care service providers, health care providers, industry and professional bodies, and community members who have an interest in social isolation, healthy ageing and/or community care.

The 2023 Symposium showcased UniSC research, services and projects occurring in the Gympie region. With a focus on social isolation in healthy ageing and community care, this event provided opportunities for academics, student, community members, stakeholders and local organisations to collaborate and share information.

Old's Cool - 'healthy at home' activities 

In partnership with Gympie Community Place (community centre) and One Bridge (specialist outreach health service providers, UniSC Gympie Campus facilitated the “Olds Cool” project.

The project used a community co-design process to align delivery to identified community needs e.g. engaging with local and regional community groups to identify priority focus areas and particular health needs within each area, and working collaboratively with communities to engage residents, particularly those less likely to engage with traditional mental health and health supports/services. This project also included a robust evaluation process to allow further development of the model for future delivery. The following activities were provided in 2023:

• Community engagement and consultation with members of the Gympie, Kilkivan, Imbil and Tin Can Bay communities. This engagement was to ascertain the priority health needs of older members of those communities particularly as it relates to resilience following challenging shared experiences eg flooding, COVID, etc.
• Provision of workshops identified as relevant to those consulted eg Falls prevention, responding to death and loss “What’s your grief”, accessing relevant health services, etc
• Provision of pop up clinics delivered by professional nursing staff and supported by UniSC nursing and allied health students.

UniSC Gympie Campus located workshops  

UniSC Gympie Campus actively supports a wide range of healthy ageing/ageing in place events and discussion through the provision of venue space to a wide range of government and non-government events including:

• “Dying to Know” workshop - facilitated by Little Haven Palliative Care
• Support After suicide workshop - StandBy Support After suicide program, Youturn Ltd
• Person Centred Emergency Preparedness workshop - Gympie Regional Council

Shared health related tenancies

• U3A (University of the Third Age) - multiple classes per week
• Thompson Institute (Myndset Program)- multiple counselling sessions per month
• Comlink Australia Aged Care Service - office space for worker interviews and first aid training