Airline retirement homes?
RED has been researching what life is like in care homes for the elderly. Have you ever noticed how flying long distance is a bit similar to living in a nursing home?
READ MORE..."Airline retirement homes?"
READ MORE..."Airline retirement homes?"
Matthew Horne | LINK | AGEING PROJECT | COMMENTS (0)
Ageing Project update
On Tuesday we were joined for lunch by Julia Huber, co-author of Demos' 'The New Old' and 'Eternal Youths' reports, who came to share her work and ideas on ageing. Julia discussed the implications of an ageing population of Baby Boomers and stressed the need for consideration of the social, cultural and polictical challenges (not just the economic dimensions) of catering for the needs of the 'new old', as well as increasing their potential contribution to society. Much of what Julia said about the changing aspirational aspects to growing older had resonance with our user research findings. Here's what we have learnt:
- Quality of life for older people is no different to quality of life for younger people.
- Age is not as important as life stage. People become old at different ages.
- Elderly people are as diverse as any other group in society. There is no such thing as 'the elderly'. Moreover old age comprises different life stages. In particular: 3rd Age and 4th Age.
- Quality of life in old age combines how we approach life and how we approach death. Furthermore, hope is essential in both life and death.
- Most spending on the elderly funds services to tackle physical illness and financial need and neglect the social and emotional aspects of well being.
- Most of the money is concentrated in institutions while services fail to mobilise the resources in families and communities.
- 'Care' is an emotional relationship not a transactional relationship. As a result the 'care' industry succeeds in providing services to support physical and health needs but fails to meet emotional and social needs.
- To understand the aspirations and needs of older people we need to understand their relationships within their families, households and with their friends and neighbours.
Building on this learning we have come up with 10 potential project ideas - I'll be posting shortly.
Jude | LINK | AGEING PROJECT | COMMENTS (0)
Ageing Project Update - possible streams
As promised, the following is a list of concepts for future services for older people that we have arrived at through analysis of our user research. We will be further exploring these ideas and narrowing our focus with partners in the coming months:
- Choosing to move house before it is too late - helping people to take a more proactive planning approach to 4th age before a crisis forces change
- Guilt tripped Sons and Daughters of the elderly - helping informal carers provide emotional support
- Supporting partnerships between informal/formal carers - how to effectively combine emotional care with physical care
- Going beyond needs - unearthing aspirations for later life - shopping for desirable old age
- Keeping people independent - it is easier to provide care by centralising services than support independence which need distributed services
- Personality matters – liking the people who care for you and the people you live with really matters - how can people choose their personal relationships?
- Apple store for the elderly - a place to learn about services and buy new products
- A local transport platform that champions accessibility and considers the complete journey experience
- Creating the slip road jobs – work opportunities at the end of your career
- ‘Child development’ type information and advice for later life
- Media content for an older population
- Care homes you actively want to visit
- A good death service – giving people choice about how they approach death
Jude | LINK | AGEING PROJECT | COMMENTS (0)
