Flinders Rural and Remote Health SA Community Partnership Grant 2020 recipient: Tanunda Lutheran Homes – Tanunda Retirement Living Residents Association
The Tanunda Retirement Living Residents Association was a successful recipient of a Flinders Rural and Remote Health SA Community Partnership Grant of $2,000 to develop a program aimed at promoting positive health and well of residents during uncertain times as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown of the aged care facility in 2020.
During this period, it was requested that all residents stay in their own home unless they had a medical appointment or needed essential shopping. As they emerged from lockdown in 2020, residents shared how isolated, worried, lonely, and afraid of the future they felt. The pandemic appeared to have contributed to a decline in their mental health and feelings of security, and they were frustrated accessing medical support in their rural community during this period.
Following a residents committee meeting where the effects of COVID-19 on the community were discussed, it was decided to provide seniors health information to TRL residents at informal gatherings followed by a coffee and chat.
The grant has assisted TRL to deliver their program and MD Rural Stream students from the Barossa campus and their program administrator Catherine Nacey were invited to be involved, which everyone has enjoyed enormously.
Activities include Coffee and Chat gatherings with guest speakers, local medical professionals and FRRHSA Barossa campus students speaking about and discussing health issues relevant to older members of the community. Other sessions cover health services available in rural South Australia, seniors exercise and online health activities, all finishing with time for informal discussion.
In future, the organisers of this innovative program would like to expand it further into Barossa communities. The sessions have shown that regular communication and sharing feelings is a positive way to improve mental health and become more informed, ultimately improving residents confidence in managing their own health issues.