Project ACT
Project ACT – Activating County Towns to aid businesses and communities in the COVID-19 poandemic
Putting Your House In Order
“Putting Your house In Order” was a series of workshops aimed at providing information for those considering retirement and later life planning
Radio Book Club
Book review on local radio station, participants are members of the Older Person Council
Radio Campaign Keep Well
Radio campaign promoting partners like ALONE, Citizens Information, Munitir na Tire, JIGSAW and the TCC Keep Well site
Rainbow Project
Online craft project
Reaching out
Active Retirement Ireland has put in place a multifaceted communication plan to ensure older people who are members remain connected to their local ARA, their region and national organisation. This is done through social media, email, telephone calls and postage of cards and letters. Information flows from national level out and feedback on how people are doing flows back We have passed on all Covid 19 updates: information on initiatives from our fellow organisations in the sector such as Seniorline Fitline Comminty call, Getting Started and Living and dying with dignity just to mention a few.
Reaching out to Older People -Staying Connected
This initiative allowed for the purchase of Acorn smart tablets which were configured to support internet access needs of older people. Digital adoption is a significant challenge for many older adults and consequently this has limited the effectiveness of the public and commercial sectors that endeavour to serve them. Age related accessibility and design limitations, digital literacy and attitudes to technology are key contributors to this reluctance to embrace digital. As public and commercial services are moving online to increase efficiencies and reduce costs, the digital divide is increasing. Those not connected are becoming more socially and economically isolated. Isolation and loneliness have a proven causal impact on health and wellbeing. The ACORN is a smart tablet based solution, purpose-built to solve this problem through facilitation and simplified digital adoption for senior citizens. It achieves this through age-friendly, accessible design, interactive help tools and content tailored to the user. It offers easy access to the online world of communication and commerce. The company supplying the ACORN tablets provides customisation of each tablet for the user, they add local content and links that are of relevance to each user. Once the links are built in they can be added dynamically i.e. even after the users have received the ACORN. It will update automatically.
Read Together online book clubs for adults
Three online book clubs for adults were established, hosted by a local author and facilitated by Galway Public Library service.