Positive
Perceptions - Media Campaign The Scottish Executive through "Our National Health: a plan for action, a plan for change", has confirmed that "we all have a responsibility to help older people lead full and independent lives: to add life to years as well as years to life."
In May 2000, Lothian Health developed a Joint Lothians Framework for Older People's Services outlining 21 strategic aims for the positive engagement in the health of older people. The focus of the framework involves promoting and maximising improvements in older people's quality of life across a wide range of services and activities throughout Lothian.
Using the above framework, Lothian Health has recently been involved in three exciting areas of work.
Ageing Well - Peer Health Mentoring
Ageing Well is a health promotion initiative that is committed to promoting positive and productive ageing. It does this principally by creating opportunities for people over 50 to continue to make a positive contribution to their own lives, the lives of other older people and the life of their local communities. Ageing Well programmes seek to involve older people directly in defining needs, determining priorities and exerting control over the decisions that affect their lives.
The Ageing Well mission is: "to improve and maintain the health of older people, recognising that they can be an important resource to themselves and to others".
This involvement of older people themselves in developing and implementing health promotion activities with their peers makes a significant departure from previous initiatives in Scotland which have been traditionally provided for older people and has the potential to deliver positive health gain for large numbers of older people.
Currently in Lothian Health there are three Ageing Well projects that seek to encourage people aged 50+ to pursue an active lifestyle. An important feature of the Ageing Well projects is the recruitment and training of volunteer Senior Health Mentors. Investing in training recognises older people as a valuable resource to their families, their friends, their communities and most importantly to each other. Once trained, volunteers have become involved in a wide range of community-based projects, working directly with their peers either in one-to-one or group situations. Examples are community-based cardiac rehabilitation and "Dance for the Health of it!".
Developing a programme in this way has the benefit of communicating with someone of a similar age and perhaps of the same gender and similar cultural background. People are able to empathise and understand through shared experience. This is the basis for all Ageing Well initiatives.
Older People's Week - Small Grants
A multi-agency Older People's Task Group in Lothian has been able to make available small grants for Older People's Week 2001. Grants were awarded for amounts between £50 and £250. Funded events took place in and around Older People's Week 29th September to 6th October 2001.
The focus of the small grant initiative in 2001 was "Active Living & Volunteering" which included accident prevention, community safety and physical activity and the promotion of volunteering, as 2001 is the International Year of Volunteers.
Events supported demonstrated collaborative, creative and imaginative initiatives that addressed social inclusion, health inequalities and the promotion of the role of volunteering.
This year 19 groups were allocated grants averaging £190 each. Examples include a "fun and active day" for minority ethnic carers and "come and try" sessions including yoga.
Positive
Perceptions - Media Campaign
Posters showing Adolph Hitler's face on a Bank of England £5 note were used in a hard-hitting anti-ageism campaign. The posters were displayed for the first two weeks of October 2001 to coincide with Older People's Week. The giant hoardings around Edinburgh and the Lothians (20 in total), act as a reminder of what could have happened if World War II ended differently.
A second poster has also been produced showing a deserted beach with a "Whites Only" sign which highlights the involvement of former South African leader, Nelson Mandela in changing attitudes.
"The striking images should stop people in their tracks and make them think about their own attitudes to older people and the debts we owe them" said a spokesperson for Age Concern Scotland.
The posters won awards for the Union Advertising Agency for best outdoor campaign and best art direction at the Scottish Advertising Awards.
The
second element to the campaign was the production and screening of a 60-second
cinema advertisement. The advertisement encourages a positive perception of
older people and was supported by SAGA. The advertisement was screened at the
majority of the Lothian cinemas for one week from 28th September 2001.
MATT HERMAN
Senior Health Promotion Specialist (Older People)
Social Inclusion and Community Care Directorate
Lothian Health
Deaconess House
148 Pleasance
Edinburgh
EH8 9RS
Tel: 0131 536 9435
Matt.Herman@lhb.scot.nhs.uk