Tag Archives: workshop

Meeting at the Nan MacKay Centre

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Today a group of students and I set off to meet with a group of older people who regularly attend the Nan MacKay Memorial Centre in Pollocksheilds.

The centre is tucked away at the end of St John’s Road – and was set up after one of the original tenants to move into the area, Nan, realised that many of the tenants were lonely and elderly and that the new council estate did not have a lot to offer.

With help from other enthusiastic residents, Nan went on to organise trips, parties and eventually started a campaign for a Hall. The hall has now been running for 30 years, continuing to serve older people and arranging a variety of daily activities.

We arrived at the centre at 9.30, just as the art class was about to start. As well as talking to the older people there about their lives, we were able to get a better feel for the centre and its importance to the local community. It was great to meet the people who were at the centre today – many of them commented that they’d be lost without such handy community facilities and many of them attended over 3 times a week.

We have been encouraging the students to take a more posivitist approach to their service design and this was a useful opportunity for them to learn from an example that is working well, where people are happy and content – rather than focusing on issues that need to be fixed.

Also, the older people that attended are fit, well and independent and commented that they often participated in the activities for the social rewards of engagement in that activity, rather than for its own sake. As such I reflected that we might begin to think about different strategies for promoting healthy activities and keeping people well/ independent that might use this social element as a hook.

Among other things, it was clear from today that:
• On the whole, ageing is a positive experience for the majority of people
• The majority of people did not think of themselves as old.
• Future health status seems to be the most important concern

All comments and thoughts welcome.

Anticipatory Care team

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Health is one of the big challenges we face in our society.
By meeting the service providers but also the older people and their carers, we realized that there was a real stake in this project. Both students and professionals are really involved and both hope for a better future.

Simple games and questions about everyday life helped us to engage with the older people and to exchange lots of ideas during the workshop last wednesday. Our deduction was quite simple : older people aren’t different ! For the majority of them, what they find the most important thing is continuing doing the very basics : talking, cooking, eating, walking, reading, sleeping… They all have their own preferences wether it be traveling, knitting, playing music, going to the cinema etc…
But this all gets complicated as they get ill, sometimes in a very unexpected way. All of a sudden, they have to deal at the same time with carers, volunteers, social care, health care, their family, and they feel lost, torn between their private life and their health.

In our society, aging is regarded as something unpleasant, we don’t want to get old. Getting frail and dependent is not “fun”. Instead of thinking about our future, we tend to forget it, to defeating age and put off this question until later. And because of this, there is a lack of preparation : we don’t plan ahead, we don’t deal with health in advance.

In a conversation with representatives from the social and health care departments we figured out that one of the main points of “anticipatory care” should actually be about stoping admissions to hospital, since this is often crucial for older people.
But we also have to see what else is related to health and to the different stages of life and what actually prepares you to get older.
We have to take into consideration our education, the informations around us, and everything else that could foster us to act in advance.

Also one important aspect is that they have the ability of taking decisions by themselves, taking risks and be aware of them. Knowing what is good for them and what they need to keep fit. It’s important for them to continuing being involved in the community and have the feeling of fulfillment.
We have to focus on how do they fit into society, what do they take and what do they give, what can we all learn from them and vice-versa. Their contribution is a key point to afford older people having a good older life and enjoying their later years.