Injury Matters had the privilege of exhibiting at the LG Professionals WA Age Friendly Australia National Conference “Unleashing an Age-Friendly Ecosystem for meaningful lives”, held in partnership with the Department of Communities and the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Perth on December 4th and 5th.
In an age-friendly environment, many sectors of society collaborate to help older people lead healthy, meaningful and fulfilling lives. Across the 2 days, experts, policymakers, local governments, and organisations came together to share their knowledge, challenges, and best practices for creating age-friendly communities and cities across Australia and internationally.
The WHO Age-Friendly Communities Network is a global initiative aimed at supporting communities to adapt their structures and services to better meet the needs of their ageing populations. It operates as part of the WHO’s broader strategy to foster healthy ageing by promoting environments that enhance the well-being and quality of life for older adults.
Focus areas
The conference featured sessions on topics such as creating age-friendly airports, addressing ageism and loneliness, using population data to understand diversity, social and digital interventions, social frailty, supporting people living with dementia and celebrating community programs that empower older adults.
A panel with representatives from New Zealand, Ireland, Slovenia and Brunei discussed the challenges and opportunities of implementing age-friendly national programs. After a closing address from Anne Ring showcasing her book ‘Engaging with Ageing’, the team from ECU Social Ageing (SAGE) Futures Lab got all delegates singing, a taste of their current music engagement project in development for Italian people living with dementia.
How we can help
Injury Matters shared with delegates our work in supporting local governments to help their communities age well and remain independent for longer. Our display showcased resources from our Stay On Your Feet® program, which raises awareness among older adults on preventing falls through:
- Evidence based tools and resources for preventing falls
- Community engagement activities
- Training and development opportunities for people working with older adults to increase their knowledge and build capacity to implement falls prevention strategies and activities.
- Networking opportunities
- Community falls prevention grants
What next?
The conference reinforced the significance of community-led efforts to create age-friendly environments and working together to ensure a safer and more inclusive environment for older adults. Moving forward, we are excited to strengthen our relationships with local governments and other stakeholders to help create safer and inclusive environments for older adults.
Public Health Plans and other strategic documents are useful frameworks to support the prioritisation of community safety and injury prevention activities conducted by your Local Government. Injury Matters can support you to develop your plan in many ways.