A Horsham social enterprise and volunteering organisation has started a new initiative which looks at keeping the elderly and those with a disability engaged in the community.
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The Centre for Participation launched its MyCareCrew initiative in July, which brings together existing support services provided by the group, such as transport services and meal delivery.
Centre for Participation Wimmera coordinator Marieke Dam said the program provided a wholistic approach to support services, which it could cater to its participants.
"MyCareCrew is a new initiative, but it actually comes from some of the support programs we already have. Our social support program has a lot of transport there; non-emergency medical transport and transport to appointments in Nhill and Ballarat," Ms Dam said.
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"It also has a lot of non-medical transport in there too, like travel for social outings or get-togethers."
"The social support program helps keep, especially the elderly, at home for longer - they have more support so they don't have to go into a nursing home."
Ms Dam said the aim of the new initiative was to keep people at home for longer by providing a one-stop-shop of support services from a provider known to the participant.
"I think it gives people a sense of belonging and a sense of pride. Often people have good memories in the house they live in, why would you want to leave?," Ms Dam said.
"Sometimes it is hard to give that up and go into a nursing home, and sometimes it is not needed because we have the support services available.
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"What you often see is that if they know a service, or know an organisation they are comfortable staying there. We provide them with more support, that will be really good. It is a shame if we can offer one thing but not another."
As COVID restrictions on gatherings were wound back, the Centre for Participation was able to offer levels of community engagement which had previously been cancelled during the pandemic.
"Our men's outings, which had been running for years and years, had stopped because of COVID, which was a shame because some of the men were not as mobile any more so what they liked to do was go around and visit areas they felt connected to when they were younger," Ms Dam said.
"Sometimes we did crop tours, looking at what crop was going in at the moment, if they had gone in yet, whether it was a dry or wet crop. They loved looking around at what had changed.
"That is really important because it keeps them engaged as a group and in the community, instead of being isolated at home."
For more information, visit centreforparticipation.org.au/mycarecrew.
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