DCSDC Mayor Sandra Duffy visited the Old Library Trust to talk to our DEEDS members about their activities they were taking part in on the day
“Lovely to get up to the Old Library Trust in Creggan for Alzheimer’s Day and see some of the fantastic Fidget Blankets made by carers for their loved ones to celebrate the day. Such a thoughtful activity give to those who are experiencing dementia in their lives”
The Old Library Trust DEEDS project held a series of activities , programmes and events to celebrate the day and can be seen on the DEEDS social media channels.
We’re delighted to be teaming up with the Healthy Living Centre Alliance & Safefood once more to encourage families to shop for healthy food, make healthier food choices AND save money while reducing food waste.
The Old Library Trust will take the lead in coordinating & delivering the Community based programmes across the North in partnership with 20 Healthy living centres working under the Healthy Living Centre Alliance.
See our guide: safefood.net/transform & Keep an eye out on social media for up and coming programmes
The old Library Trust was delighted to work in partnership to support this years positive ageing month with a wide range of local activities to support our older residents.
Activities and initiatives for older people will take centre stage across the Council area next month as Positive Ageing Month returns.
The Western Health and Social Care Trust and Derry City and Strabane District Council worked with the Public Health Agency and Community and Voluntary organisations to develop and promote the programme.
The events began on Saturday October 1st to mark International Day of Older Persons and Mayor of Derry City and Strabane District Council, Councillor Sandra Duffy, officially launched the programme.
“I am delighted to introduce the programme for Positive Ageing Month 2022 – a month long festival to support older people,” she said.
“This year’s programme offers a wealth of opportunities for citizens aged 50+ years to be included in all aspects of community life across the District.
“Locally the Age Friendly Programme aims to engrain the inclusion of older people by increasing participation and access to services and making sure this is an enjoyable place for people to live and grow older in.
“The wide range of opportunities are reflective of the partnership working by all stakeholders including the community and voluntary sector who continuously reach out to support our older citizens.
“I would like to thank everyone for their contributions and the Western Health and Social Care Trust and the Public Health Agency for their ongoing support.
“I would encourage everyone to use Positive Ageing Month as an opportunity to try something new, get along to as many of the events as possible and encourage others to join you.”
Some highlights of the programme include walks, talks, music sessions, photography competition, talks on pensions planning and making your home more energy efficient, as well as healthy eating and a step challenge all happening throughout the month.
Brónach McMonagle, Involvement Manager, Western Health and Social Care Trust added: “The Western Trust is delighted once again to support the Positive Ageing campaign.
“There is a wide range of events and activities for all our older people and we are pleased to see the promotion of the 5 steps to wellbeing – Be active, Connect, take notice, give and keep learning.
“We would like to thank our partners as this initiative shows what we can achieve when we work together.
“We encourage everyone to take a look at this year’s brochure and get involved as much as you can”.
Heather Hamilton, Senior Health and Social Wellbeing Improvement Officer at the Public Health Agency (PHA) West said:
“Empowering older people to live healthier and fulfilling lives is crucial to maintaining and improving their wellbeing. It can help reduce isolation, become more active and forge important connections beneficial to mental health. Positive Ageing Month is a welcomed opportunity to celebrate older people and for them to connect and become involved in events and activities which promote improvement in both physical and mental health and help reduce health inequalities. The PHA is delighted to work in partnership with Council and the Western Health and Social Care Trust to help recognise the invaluable contribution older people make within their community and wider society.”
The Old Library Trust is delighted to be the recipient of a new grant of £7, 067 from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland (Arts and Older People Programme) for their project: “Treasured Possessions: The People’s Artefacts” which will enable people with dementia from DEEDS to make a link to our local Tower Museum for a dementia friendly session looking at the people’s 10 artefacts, reminiscing and engaging in storytelling about the objects. Back in their social groups the members will explore what possessions they may have at home that they treasure most. The members will then work with two artists who will help collect their own stories and the group will be photographed with their treasured possessions. The artist photographer will lead an art workshop in portraiture from its beginnings in paintings, cameos, silhouettes and leading into photography. The members will work with polaroid cameras to take their own portraits at the end of the workshop. Finally, two members from each of the 6 social groups will represent each area for a large-scale portrait with their Treasured Possession where the story of the person and the object will be embedded as a bar code into the portrait to hear when scanned by the viewer. The group and individual portraits will form an exhibition which will be mounted in both Derry and Strabane. Sinead Devine, Co-ordinator is thrilled that this project has been funded. “The arts are a great connector for people living with dementia. This funding will give our members access to high quality arts provision which will enable them to express themselves with photography and storytelling. It will also further link those with dementia to the Museum Services in the Derry as part of our linking to the community focus.” Betty Tower from the Tower Museum commented “The Tower Museum is delighted to be working with DEEDS to provide object handling workshops for their members in the Museum specifically designed for people living with Dementia. The Museum is working to becoming Dementia Friendly which can be seen in the work that we do with Nursing and Care homes as well as our exhibitions. This new project will add a new dimension to the work which is helping to make Derry and Strabane a dementia friendly region.” Lorraine Calderwood, Arts Programmes Officer, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, commented, “We know that taking part in arts activities can raise self-esteem, boost confidence and motivation, as well as help to relieve stress, loneliness worries and pain. The Arts and Older People Programme aims to increase opportunities for older people to engage in the arts and more recently, has focused on delivering arts activity within care home settings, working with residents living with dementia and their carers. Thanks to The National Lottery players, Baring Foundation and Public Health Agency, the Arts and Older People Programme is providing meaningful opportunities for our older people to take part in the arts, enriching their lives for the better and the Arts Council is thrilled to support this wonderful, engaging project from The Old Library Trust.”
Watch the site as we bring you updates on the progress of the project this winter.
This week we had the chance to experience how challenging it is to live with Dementia by visiting the Virtual Dementia Bus. So many families are affected by the disease and it can be very frightening and confusing for sufferers as they try to adapt. The Bus is specially designed to give caring staff an insight into what it’s like for someone living with Dementia so improvements can be made to approaches in caring for people.
Some of the participants of the Dementia Virtual Tour this week in Derry and Strabane including the Mayor Sandra Duffy were Majella Magee WHSCT, Stephanie Coyle WHSCT, Ciara Burke Age Friendly Derry & Strabane DSDC, and Heather Hamilton PHA who funded the bus visiting Derry & Strabane.
A huge thanks to John Sanders from Training to Care who facilitated the training.
Thanks for everyone who came along and took part. May we all go forward with some patience and more compassion for people living with dementia so we can support them better in their day to day lives.
The Walk was an event to honour those we have lost to substance use, to celebrate those currently navigating recovery and to remember why recovery is so important within our communities.
Our parents are enjoying taking part in this week’s workshop focusing on ‘How to model non-anxious behaviour’ while the kids had activities supported by SureStart Edenballymore staff.
This program is being delivered in conjunction with The Right Time, The Right Place Project, @BBHF Already looking forward to next week’s session!
The Old Library Trust in partnership with the Healthy Living Centre Alliance once again will role out the award winning ever popular Better days pain management programme to residents living in Creggan and the surrounding areas.
This programme supports people to self manage their pain and live better and happier lives. Topic covered include Sleep, self care, relaxation, breathing techniques and advice from health professionals.
If interested contact Pete for information on how to join up
