Services:

• Older People
• Youth, Children and Families
• Physical Disabilities and Neurological Support
• Palliative and Terminal Care

ENLIVEN –Positive Ageing Services

 

Enliven is a new name heralding the exciting new direction for PSEC in our work with older people. Enliven includes all our activities that support positive aging. Positive Ageing is a philosophy about the aging process and about services. it recognises that there are some things that are important to a happy, healthy life at any age.

·        Feeling valued

·        Choices about how to live

·        Control of your own life

·        Family and friends

·        Participation in the community

·        Feeling secure and supported

·        Being Active and involved

 

These are concepts that have been part of Presbyterian Supports work in all our services. With the sale of residential care and our service history, we have the resources, ideas, relationships and skills to make a contribution to the next phase of support for older people.

 

While the rest homes and hospitals we founded carry on under Qualcare we will fill gaps in support for the 95% of older people who live in their own homes. We are already doing a great deal and we have a lot more planned.

 

 

What Enliven does

Enliven is not about “helping” older people or doing things for them. It is about a partnership with them and working towards specific goals, using those goals and the older persons own determination to keep them in control of their own destiny.

 

Key concepts are:

·        Social Connectedness - everyone wants friends and family and to be part of the community – its what makes us human and keeps us motivated to live.

·        Restoration and Rehabilitation - with personalised exercise and support people can regain mobility and skills that give them control of their lives, greater health safety and enjoyment

·        The Older Person is in Charge - There is no fixed list of services with Enliven. Enliven staff will work with older people to develop a personally tailored service package based on their changing needs and what is important to them. We want to make sure that the support we give is the support our clients actually need in order to stay in their own home,

 

Growing Fast

We have already grown our community activities with the equivalent of two rest homes of older people now using the Enliven service. By Christmas this will have more than doubled to over 130 people. By this time next year we expect many many more people to be benefiting from Enliven.

 

 

Some of the components of Enliven

Community FIRST is a restorative rest home level care service in the Hastings and Napier area for those who choose to remain at home.  This pilot will enable 60 older people to remain at home which is the equivalent of two rest homes.

Evergreen Circle is a restorative day programme, which includes a physical activity programme and social connection for older people who are at risk of entering rest home care through social isolation and loss of mobility. There are currently four of these programmes available to a more than 70 older people across the East Coast.

Random Acts of Kindness is a volunteer visiting and befriending programme linking isolated older people back to the community.

 

Talking to Older People – Presbyterian Support has also held a series of consultations with older people. They told us some very interesting things about what they value and need. They place a high priority on early support when they first become vulnerable. This has led to lots of ideas for new services that we are developing. For example

·        expanding visiting and befriending services in many communities

·        support and training for family carers

·        cooking classes for men living alone

·        telephone befriending and well-being checks

·        helping people select trustworthy trades people for home maintenance

·        applying a restorative approach to home help

·        co-ordinating reliable information about what is available to older people

 

There is a lot to do and I look forward to telling you about progress as Enliven grows.

 

 

Lorna Cowan

Manager SOP