practical living
Scene from Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds. Photo: ABC
we have a royal commission. Was it hard
to get an aged care home on board?
Surprisingly, it wasn’t, although I wasn’t
involved in the original negotiations – that
was Debbie Cuell, the producer of the
show. She certainly did a lot of that liaison.
I think it’s important to say that the
vast majority of aged care facilities are
actually doing an okay job. But certainly,
the Four Corners program drew our
attention to some of the negatives that
are happening far too often.
On for young and old
A peek behind the scenes
of an ABC documentary set
in an aged care home.
Susan Kurrle interviewed by Conor Burke
M
“
aureen, hurry up!” Michaela
urges her friend. Aiden does
much the same with his
older buddy Eric, who has sat down to
rest. “We’re coming last,” he tells Eric as
he pleads for him to carry on.
This scene is playing out in the first
episode of the new ABC TV program
Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds.
The idea is simple: a group of 10
four-year-olds are paired with aged care
residents for seven weeks, working and
playing together, to see if the physical
and mental wellbeing of the residents
improves.
The show highlights the reality of
aged care living for some residents and
can be shocking, even for seasoned aged
care observers.
“I’m not interested in having a purpose,”
said Brian, one of the participants on the
show. “I mean, everybody thinks that they
should do everything they can to keep us
20 agedcareinsite.com.au
alive. We’re here to die, and the sooner
the better.”
But as the first episode progresses, we
can see the enjoyment residents get from
their new young friends – their energy and
laughter were infectious.
This experiment is the first of its kind
conducted in Australia, and Professor
Susan Kurrle, director of the Cognitive
Decline Partnership Centre at the
University of Sydney, worked on the
show and believes the implications of a
successful trial could be huge.
The resident-to-resident relationship
building that has arisen as a result of the
experiment has obvious benefits to health,
she said. And allowing young children daily
contact with their elders can also help
combat ageism.
Kurrle spoke with Aged Care Insite about
her work on this funny, heart-warming and
revealing documentary.
ACI: How did this project begin?
SK: It is very much the ABC’s initiative.
There was a similar show on a much
smaller scale done in the UK. I think the
ABC saw that and saw the potential.
The ABC show has been developed into
something much larger, with a scientific
underpinning in terms of really good
assessment of all the older people at the
beginning and then at the end.
We’ve got objective measurements of
improvement, as well as just what you
actually see on the documentary.
The last time the ABC delved into aged
care, the whole thing blew up and now
With the documentary, you’re looking
for tangible improvements over seven
weeks. We know lots of homes already
do small activities with kids and the
residents. But it hasn’t been studied at
this intensity before.
A lot of people talk about intergenerational
programs, which is where you bring
children and older people together, and
there’s a lot of fun, joy and enthusiasm.
This is true where you get a supervised,
structured program being developed, so
that both the children and the older people
are benefiting.
While it was just putting them together
and then watching what happened, there
was that structure. Often when children
go to a care facility they’ll sing or they’ll
do something like that. This is very much
a collaborative version of that, in that both
the older people and the kids are working
together towards a common purpose,
whether it’s painting, or collecting bits and
pieces for craft. It’s a little different to just
the visits, and I think that’s really important.
For someone who writes about aged
care all the time, I was slightly shocked
watching the ABC program. One quote
from one of the residents, as the show
started, was: “We’re here to die and the
sooner the better.” That’s incredibly
bleak. Were you surprised at times,
watching back?
Yes. That was Brian who said that, and he
was very definite about it. But I think the
fact that he was so explicit shocked a lot
of people. It’s why it’s there up front, in
the first episode, just to remind us all that
aged care homes can certainly be seen as
God’s waiting room. And we really need to
change that.
You mentioned the importance of
creating bonds. What’s the science
behind that?
Humans are pack animals. We all like to
belong to something, whether it’s a church,