“ Keep up the good work with the various topics relevant to our lives . Thank you .”
– Scam webinar attendee
Living Well , Ageing Well
Our Living Well , Ageing Well ( LWAW ) program supports people aged 40 to 65 who experience social isolation or loneliness to increase their confidence and independence to connect with local activities .
This includes supporting people to develop individual goals and access health services , recreational and leisure activities , volunteering opportunities , and life-long learning activities . Establishing meaningful social connections supports their psychological and physical wellbeing .
LWAW also provides education , capacity building and wellness seminars and groups to promote healthy ageing and preventative healthcare .
This year we focused on developing new and meaningful seminars and workshops , engaging consumers with surveys , and strengthening our internal and external partnerships so that we could offer a wider range of topics in our seminar series and reach more people in the northern corridor .
What did we achieve ?
22 seminars and workshops delivered – 32 % more than last year
402 consumers attended workshops this year – 57 % more than last year
partnered with Ambulance Victoria , NBN , DPV Health , Justice Connect , Local Councils , Local Neighbourhood Houses , and libraries to deliver our seminars
30 consumers responded to surveys focused on identifying :
– themes of interest for consumers to assist review of our seminars / workshops
– health conditions and topics that consumers were interested in learning about
– enablers and barriers to access the service ( e . g ., program cost , mode of service delivery )
– how to best engage with our consumers and community
Where can we improve ?
occasionally we had to cancel and reschedule a seminar if a guest speaker or presenter was unexpectedly unavailable , with no back up option in place . This reduced attendance at the rescheduled seminar as some interested community members were not available
What ’ s next ?
continuing our engagement with stakeholders
increasing internal collaboration to deliver more health and wellness seminars
increasing community feedback opportunities to better meet the needs of consumers
reviewing LWAW eligibility criteria so our programs are open to a larger cohort of the community
contingency planning for seminars , identifying internal Merri staff who are trained or skilled in different areas of healthy ageing to actively involve them in LWAW seminars
58 Health