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FEBRUARY 2019
What! February already? Whoa!
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School students capture wise stories

We are very pleased to be partnering with St Mary's College on an exciting new project.

Wise Humans of the Downs aims to uncover, record and celebrate the lived experiences and stories of people aged 60 years and over across the Darling Downs. Students will interview and write the personal stories of selected elders. The final stories will be shared in a printed book launched during Seniors Week in August 2019.

This project offers a special opportunity for young people to connect with older people in their community who they are not related to and hear their life story. It also gives older participants recognition and respect of their lived experience and a rare opportunity to share this with a wider audience.

The project is supported with funding under the Advancing Queensland: an age-friendly community 2018-19 grants program.

A full life

Lea Rapoport is 91 years young with a fascinating life story.

She's excelled in archery, dancing, painting and photography. She married the love of her life who would become Toowoomba's first residential barrister. We maintain Lea's neat yard as part of our Home Services program. We sat down with her recently to hear more about her interesting life.
Read the full story here

CUA chips in

Branch managers from CUA swapped their day job for a taste behind the scenes at our boutique op shop, Collectables.

The enthusiastic managers volunteered their time to help us set up an exciting new space at the back of Collectables.
The space has an exotic theme and will open to the public from Tuesday 5 February.

Collectables is open:
Tue-Fri: 10am to 4pm
Sat: 9am to 1pm

Bend for your health

The theme of our next Banter event is BEND.

This is a special initiative of our Home Services team, especially for people aged 60 years and over who want a fun and interesting social outing. There will be two 1 hour yoga sessions with morning tea in between. The sessions will be led by Toowoomba yoga instructor, Camilla Hall.
- Session 1: 9am - 10am
- Morning tea: 10am - 10.30am
- Session 2: 10.30am - 11.30am

FREE event. Limited places. Bookings are essential. RSVP by 1 February. Email or phone 1300 882 764.

15 years service

Congratulations to George Evans from our Garden Maintenance Team who is celebrating 15 years of service.

George is well respected amongst his colleagues and clients. He also has the proud reputation of always being immaculately dressed and presented, even after a day's toil mowing lawns.

Welcome

Margaret Burges has joined our Disability Support Team as a Team Leader.

Margaret comes to us with both nursing and community and allied health qualifications, and hands on experience as a team leader under NDIS. She has a very strong client-centered approach, a passion for working in disabilities and a positive outlook on everything she does.

CEO's Comment

Penny Hamilton, Chief Executive

With Australia’s ageing population, increased life expectancy and longevity, there are growing demands for aged care in our nation. We need to think hard how to do it better.

In the next 30 years, Australia will see an unprecedented rise in the number of people aged over 85 years. In 2050, there will be 1.2 million more people aged over 85 than there are today, and the average older Australian will live five years longer than today. This equates to adding six million more years of care just for the increased number of over 85s and just to manage their increased life expectancy.

To put that in perspective, in 1952, 40 letters of congratulations were written for Australians turning 100. This year, 2,643 Australians will turn 100 and in 30 years the number of congratulatory letters written to Australians turning 100 will increase to 18,567. Maybe you will be one of these?

It is a big challenge for Australia to service this growing demand. Aging at home and living independently and in their own community is important to many people as they grow older but it is critical they have quality care options available to them. Much needed funding boosts for home-care packages and for vital building modifications have been recently announced by the Federal Government to help seniors stay living independently at home. An extra 20,000 home-care packages have been added in the past year, representing a 40 per cent increase. It is a good step however, it is not enough to confront the waiting list of almost 127,000 seniors who’ve applied for packages.

Some of us are fortunate to have our aging parents still with us, and all of us will eventually be requiring some form of support to help us through our later years. Supporting our elderly citizens now and into the future will require all of us to be informed, be involved in the conversation and to be part of the solution. Elderly people have the right to freedom of choice and autonomy, and we all should recognise, respect and act on this now.

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