The benefits and strengths of an Intergenerational Care program have all been in the news this week. The outcome achieved for the children and our aged population cannot be overstated as both age groups gain considerable results from the interaction.
Intergenerational care programs allow children to learn from and connect with an older generation, improve children’s behaviour and attitude towards older people, and enhance the overall well-being of both young and old participants.
Last year we ran an assessment of an outbound visit to an aged care facility by our North Boambee centre, the outcomes achieved were very successful, and we looked at what & how we could improve on the experience and across all our centres. One of the first items we viewed was how we do this. North Boambee had elected to walk to the local aged centre. While this added to the experience of the visit combined with road knowledge, it is not feasible for all centres to participate in this way.
Commencing in April, we will be running monthly bus-based visits to local aged care facilities from all our centres. This program will run from April to November. We will rotate the days each month so that we provide the best opportunity for all our preschoolers to be involved. Ohana will be funding and hiring a bus to take ten preschool based children on each visit. We will also be purchasing enough booster and harness based child seats to make the journey safe. Each centre will provide more information on this program as they finalise the dates of the visits and days.
To support this program, we are opening our doors at each of our centres to the older generation to attend our centres and engage in time with the children in promoting reading and supporting gardening activities. Particpants can be grandparents, friends of families or just people wanting to connect with the younger generation. We will need to ensure all participants have a free volunteer working with children check available from the RMS Service Centre and will at all times be working with our educators in these interactions with our children.
We found that the grandparents day held late last year provided an excellent experience for all involved and wonderful rapport with the children and was something the children talked about for weeks.
This program will support our centres across all age groups from the nursery, toddlers and preschoolers.
We will shortly release on our website a booking system as a way of access for all families to promote this to their immediate family and friends, more to come in coming weeks on how and what will be needed to be part of this program.
We believe the outcomes achieved for both the children at our centres and the participants will be something remembered for years to come.