Programme: Kilkenny
WHO Theme: Communication and Information
Cost: 5000 – 10000
Status: Completed
Description
Kilkenny Age Friendly Alliance and Kilkenny Older People’s Council decided to celebrate ten years of age friendly activities in the city and county with the publication of a book summarising the activities undertaken over that period plus the production of a video documentary which engaged with key stakeholders who have been involved in a variety age friendly activities during those ten years. Twenty seven people directly participated in the video documentary as follows:
Age Friendly Beginning in Kilkenny & Memory Matters Project – Debra O’Neill. Kilkenny Local Authority – Sean McKeown. Kilkenny Older People’s Council – Michael Delahunty; Betty Dewberry; Bríd Murphy. HSE Services for Older People – Teresa Hennessy; Majella Cunningham. St. Luke’s Hospital (Age Friendly Hospital Project & GEMS Initiative) – Mary O’Hanlon; Deirdre Dunne ; Ann Slattery CEO; Gemma Treacy; Doctor Rory McGovern; Ann Mulholland; Mary Bolger; Danielle Reddy. Age Friendly Business Initiative – Marion Acreman; Danny Byrne. Transport Initiative – John Coonan. Community Policing – Supt. Anthony Farrell. Library Services – Josephine Coyne; Mary Foley. Adult Education Kilkenny Carlow ETB – Martha Bolger. Leisure & Exercise – Seamus Nugent; Linda Murphy; Pat McAuley; Liam Keane. Finale – Nickey Brennan (Kilkenny Age Friendly Ambassador).
Participants spoke about the development of the various programmes and how these helped the ageing population of Kilkenny City & County across a number of health related initiatives, local authority initiatives, transport, business, adult education, safeguarding, library and leisure/exercise activities. The video demonstrated the scale of engagement by many organisations in Kilkenny and how they enthusiastically embraced the need to engage with older adults to ensure that the services they provided met their specific needs. Participants also noted how their engagement with the age friendly programme identified ways to specifically cater for older people (in their business/organisation) whose needs often differed from the younger population in many instances.
Debra O’Neill spoke about establishing the age friendly programme in Kilkenny and later about the ‘Memory Matters Project” which she led and which was funded by Atlantic Philanthropies and supported by the HSE. The project dealt with treating people with dementia in their own homes for as long as possible. The report’s findings would subsequently be adopted by the HSE in their dealing with dementia in older people. Numerous other health initiatives were also implemented over the ten years specifically dealing with older people including how early intervention would avoid them, in many instances, having to go into hospital. How St. Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny became Ireland’s first age friendly hospital is covered while the video also explores the GEMS project at the hospital and specific engagement with older people a variety of other initiatives. The role of An Garda Siochána in supporting older people is also covered, along with a number of business initiatives also aimed at older people. The Kilkenny Older People’s Council was to the forefront in getting a bus services for Kilkenny City, while the roles of the ETB and Library Services in supporting adult literacy and education are also covered. There is a feature also on the development of leisure/exercise actives for older people through the Local Sports Partnership. The role of the Kilkenny Older People’s Council is evident throughout the video documentary, while the Kilkenny Age Friendly Ambassador, Nickey Brennan, provides a summary of his role.
The video documentary was overseen by a committee from the Kilkenny Older People’s Council. It was written and produced by Nickey Brennan with assistance from Ballywire Media.
Aim of Initiative
To celebrate ten years of age friendly activities in Kilkenny City and County.
To celebrate the work of individuals and organisations who have been involved in that journey.
To acknowledge the progress which has been made around the age friendly programme in Kilkenny City & County.
Who is it aimed at
The population of Kilkenny City & County, young and older. Many would already know of the age friendly activities, but many others would not.
The various stakeholders who have been involved in the age friendly programme over the past decade.
Visitors to Kilkenny City & County to show that we are a destination that respects and appreciates older citizens in a safe and friendly environment
Kilkenny Local Authority (including elected members) plus other Boards/Bodies in the City/County whose decisions can regularly impact on the lives of older people.
3 Steps critical to success
- Planning the scope of the video documentary project and identifying the particular areas to be covered.
Identifying the participants and briefing them on the project and their particular role.
Selecting a video documentary partner to undertake the filming and (in due course) assist with the editing.
Identify the costs associated with the project plus engaging with co-funding partners – KIlkenny Local Authority and Kilkenny Leader Partnership. - Planning the filming at 14 different locations in Kilkenny City & County.
Setting out the questions to be asked of each participant.
Planning drone filming in Kilkenny City and Thomastown.
Filming and Interviewing the individual participants (this took five days) - Video editing (this took three days)
Recording voice-over introductions/commentaries for inserting into the video.
Identify appropriate still photography for inserting into the video.
Launch the video documentary at the Kilkenny People’s Council’s annual gathering in the Ormonde Hotel in Oct. 2022.
Engage with Age Friendly Ireland to have the video documentary uploaded on to theirYouTube Channel.
3 Challenges in Planning / Delivery
- Identifying the participants – don’t leave out any key individuals. By and large, I think that we managed this very well.
- Planning the process – finalise locations for filming plus questions to be asked. We anticipated that we would have to undertake extensive editing, so we were able to be flexible when questioning participants (the finalised video documentary came to around 53 minutes, but the actual filming came to over two and a half hours).
- Editing the video documentary was perhaps the biggest challenge we faced. This involved identifying what to include and what to delete and also to insert part of interviews in relevant sections of the video documentary to ensure proper flow.
3 Outcomes / Benefits
- There is now a much greater appreciation of the work which has been undertaken in Kilkenny around the various age friendly programmes which are covered in the video documentary.
- Since the video documentary was launched, many people who were unfamiliar with the various initiatives, now say that they are much better informed about the services available to older people in Kilkenny City and County.
- The various age friendly stakeholders that participated in the video documentary have received greater exposure of the services they provide to older people plus a greater acknowledgement of the individuals in these organisations/bodies whose work has been identified throughout the video documentary.