An exciting new scheme that encourages older people to lead active lifestyles is being developed by Age UK to help older people lead healthier and more active lives.
The Life and Soul programme is funded by the Big Lottery Fund and looks at what is an active lifestyle. It sees active ageing as becoming more active physically and eating healthily but also emphasises the importance of mental well being.
Life and Soul is being delivered nationally in sheltered housing schemes across the country. It does this through recruiting resident volunteers to encourage their peers to be more active.
Training and support is available for the volunteers from the project but ultimately the aim is to be self sustaining.
The training for the volunteers takes place over two days and is provided free by the project. It covers the basics of keeping active, why it is so important to keep active, nutrition and healthy eating, as well as what it means to be a volunteer and how to encourage your peers to engage in activities.
After the training each volunteer is asked to contact at least six other residents and report back the results. Regular volunteer support meetings are held as well.
The project is currently in its pilot phase but aims to rollout sites nationally in the near future.
One of the first pilot organisations was Midland Heart, where 15 volunteers were recruited from five different sheltered schemes across Coventry.
“Our customers’ enthusiasm is great,” said Alan Jephcott, customer involvement manager at Midland Heart.
He added: “We had a lot more people who wanted to be involved in the training as we could fit in the first group. They are really keen to make a positive impact in their schemes, and generate the ideas for activities themselves, not wait until someone like me comes up with a new idea.”
Organisational buy-in to the scheme is essential. It requires a commitment in time, if not in money. But the benefits can be many – healthier, more active residents; greater resident participation; increased experience of volunteer recruitment and management; even increased compliance with regulatory requirements such as QAF objectives.
The programme is funded for two years but the hope is that once resident volunteers start encouraging their fellow residents in staying active, the project will continue without the input of Life and Soul and become self sustaining.
If you and your organisation are interested in being part of the national scheme, please email Jane War
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