Sale Elderly Citizens Village (SECV) consists of a residential aged care facility – Ashleigh House -and two connected independent living communities – Eastwood Park and Northwood Park. Across these facilities SECV supports over 150 older people to enjoy meaningful and fulfilling lives as they age.
Prior to the pandemic in 2019 SECV recognised the many challenges facing their residents, and the wider Sale community. With the support of Elbow Community Building they applied to the Gippsland Primary Health Network (PHN) One Good Community grants program, which was focused on drought and bushfire recovery in Outer Gippsland.
The proposal was to bring Seniors groups in Sale together for lunches at Ashleigh House. There were several objectives of the project. proposes to host a series of community lunches that include residents of our independent living units as well as members of the wider seniors community in Sale. These lunches were planned, facilitated and presented to work towards three objectives:
A range of Seniors community groups were invited:
The project was heavily impacted by the pandemic however 2 lunches were run and extensive contact was made with people who attended.
Invitation were distributed by hand to the letter boxes of the Eastwood Park and Northwood Park with personalised phone call follow-ups. This approach is credited with a very high uptake with both lunches quickly fully booked to the COVID-19 capacity limits.
Lunches were held in the Ashleigh House library to and SECV team leader Mark gave an introduction to each menu item.
During the lunches members of local groups who are welcoming of older people gave short introductions about their group, and extended an invitation to those present to join in.
People who came to the lunches gave tremendous feedback and indicated a willingness to work together on a shared facility for older people in Sale. Survey responses indicated that there is a degree of isolation for older people in the area and people were enthusiastic about building a more connected community.
Several people joined new groups, including coming into Ashleigh House to volunteer with the lifestyle program for residents.
Surveys of the community members attending also showed the excellent quality of SECV food.
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians and Owners of the lands in which we work and live on across Australia. In particular the Gunaikurnai people who are the Traditional Owners of the land where we are based and undertake most of our work. We pay our respects to Elders of the past, present and emerging. We are committed to collaboration that furthers self-determination and creates a better future for all.