CLÚID BRINGS OLDER RESIDENTS TOGETHER TO CELEBRATE POSITIVE AGEING WEEK IN NEWCASTLE WEST

Clúid Housing Association brought residents together this week to celebrate ageing and the contribution older people have made and continue to make to their communities. The charity held a number of events for older residents, friends and family, as part of Positive Ageing Week. The celebrations took place in its sheltered housing scheme at Liosan Court in Gortboy, Newcastle West. The week of events organised by Clúid included a games night, an afternoon tea event and an informal talk from the local health centre about the benefits of a healthy diet and exercise regime for older people. Clúid organised the events to encourage residents to come together and to inform them about health awareness. The sheltered housing scheme in Gortboy is purpose built accommodation for older people who want to live independently in an environment that is secure. Clúid believes it is important that older people are provided the opportunity to remain living as independently as possible. Clúid is currently advocating on behalf of its older residents to promote extra care housing which fills the gap between sheltered housing and nursing homes by providing enough extra care to ensure that older people can continue to live independently. Clúid’s Regional Director in Limerick Tim Porter said “One of our tenants in Liosan Court was persuaded to move into a nursing home because he didn’t have anyone to make sure he had his meals and take his tablets. Clúid stepped in and lobbied for that man to return to our scheme where he gets the extra care he requires. Now he is happy living here and we have someone calling in to see him once a day for half an hour. Extra care housing would allow Clúid to make the decision to provide that man with the minimal extra care he needed in the first place, allowing him to live as independently as possible, improving his quality of life and saving a significant amount in public expenditure”. He added “Clúid is passionate about making the concept of extra care housing a reality because it will provide a far better quality of life for many people and at the same time result in very significant savings because extra care housing costs far less than nursing home care. Our residents may not have a choice about growing older but we passionately believe that they should have a choice about living independently in an environment that is secure. Most of older people prefer to remain in their own homes with access to services that allow them to retain control over their daily lives with support and care delivered when they need it. With the right supports we can avoid the trauma for many older people who would otherwise have to move into a nursing home or hospital”. Clúid is an independent, not for profit organisation that develops and provides high quality, affordable, rented housing for people from housing waiting lists all over Ireland. Clúid currently provides general needs, special needs and sheltered housing in over 3,500 properties across the country. Clúid provides over 480 sheltered housing properties around the country.