How this matchmaking granny can save the city
It’s a matchmaking service with a difference … Anneke Fitzgerald is looking to pair over-65s with under-5s in a bid to help reduce teen delinquency and prevent dementia
ANNEKE Fitzgerald is the ultimate matchmaker.
In fact, so successful is this Gold Coast grandmother with her perfect pairings, she’s even considering launching her own app.
Picture a version of Tinder, but with one crucial difference … she’s looking to match over-65s with under-5s. Call it Kinder.
It’s the stuff that reality shows are made of. Indeed, just look at the ABC’S beloved hit television show Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds … and if you watch until the credits, you’ll see her name listed as a consultant for the program.
Because as well as being a grandmother and “matchmaker”, Griffith University Emeritus Professor Anneke Fitzgerald is Australia’s leading researcher in intergenerational practice, which is all about fostering the connection between young and old.
It’s the idea of combining childcare with aged care and through the creation of the Australian Institute for Intergenerational Practice, based at Southport’s Cohort Innovation Space, Professor Fitzgerald is making this concept not just a reality but an industry around the country.
And the Gold Coast is set to be its capital.
This Friday, the city is hosting the nation’s first intergenerational forum with more than 200 participants, while the pilot educat ion course to
become an intergenerational practitioner launches next month.
Given that 18.1 per cent of the city’s population are under 14 years and 16.4 per cent are over 65, with more than 85 aged care facilities and 240 childcare centres within our city limits, it’s another perfect match.
And Professor Fitzgerald says the product of this pairing is something that will benefit the whole community, whether young, old or in-between.
Evidence-based studies show that when young and old connect it can be deeply life-enhancing. From warding off social isolation to potentially delaying institutionalisation and dementia, there is even evidence to suggest that when children connect to older people at a younger age they are much less likely to be delinquent.
“What we see for children, especially kids who are on the spectrum or who have behavioural issues, is that their prosocial behaviours change dramatically. So many of the parents are amazed – their confidence improves and their comprehension,” says Professor Fitzgerald.
“We’re really pushing for a longitudinal study into how this might prevent delinquency in older children. So far what we’re seeing is this can be a very effective intervention.
“For older people, the benefits are amazing. We are in the midst of a loneliness pandemic and this can be a cure.
“But a monthly morning tea is not intergenerational practice. It’s a visit.
“What we are talking about is something that’s planned, curriculum-based and has reciprocal benefit.
“We’re seeing older people who no longer need their antidepressants once they are part of an intergenerational care project and their frailty can actually be reversed. The effects are so staggering that work we’ve been doing with the University of NSW has just received a $3.7m grant to conduct clinical trials into the effects of intergenerational care.
“The great thing about being based here on the Gold
Coast is that we have such a big
population of young and old who want to be involved.”
However, Professor Fitzgerald says she has been overwhelmed by the support from one particular Gold Coaster who has become a huge advocate of the AIIP – Mayor Tom Tate.
She says Mr Tate has fully funded the Intergenerational Mayoral Forum and lunch on this Friday, which is free for registrants, and is keen to see the practice adopted across the city.
“I walked into a meeting with him and left seven minutes later with my jaw dragging on the floor … he could not have been more supportive. It was incredible,” she says.
Professor Fitzgerald says the city support comes at a critical time with AIIP about to launch its pilot practice program next month.
She says the ultimate aim is to create a new profession: the intergenerational care specialist.
“It’s an eight-week online course run through the AIIP website but with badging from Griffith University,” she says.
“The idea is that it’s an extension for those already working within the education sector. This gives them the ability to work with children and the elderly, and for childcare centres to include this in their curriculum.
“It gives workers a specialisation and can give childcare centres a point of difference as well.
“There have been many interesting projects conducted in the last few years that include intergenerational care but this will give it a formal structure, proper facilitation, implementation and evaluation.
“We would love to have more funding. There are a lot of practical issues when it comes
to transporting children to aged care homes and ensuring everyone who wants to be involved can be involved, but we’re doing the best we can with what we have.
“What we’ve created is completely not-for-profit, we just want to see the community benefit.”
With the first courses already almost full, it may not be long until the Gold Coast is the centre for multiple old people’s homes for four year olds.
Professor Fitzgerald says the intergenerational program itself comprises an eight-week program, beginning in the second week of each term.
She says children would travel with their school or centre’s facilitator to visit their older “matches” for about an hour.
“It’s important not to do too much or too little. And it’s important to have a beginning, a middle and end to each session and a goal of what will be covered. Each facilitator will have been properly trained and the AIIP is there for continued support.
“Eventually, it would be great to have an app like Tinder so we can match the childcare centres to their aged care
homes … there are so many who are interested. It’s wonderful to see but it really does matter to ensure we make the right matches.”
As a former registered nurse of more than 20 years who had worked in aged care, Professor Fitzgerald became invested in intergenerational care after a conversation with her daughter, a childcare worker.
She says they both shared similar stories about working with the young and old, and that’s when inspiration struck.
“It was back in 2013 and my daughter came home and said as much as she loved working with little children, it was not all she imagined.
“She thought it would be influencing their lives and inspiring them, but most days she was up to her armpits in poop.
“I said it reminded me of working in aged care, how I believed it was a privilege to be with people in this final stage of their lives, but so much of the work was tasks like cleaning and handing out medication rather than really connecting.
“We realised how similar yet how separated the two industries were. Then we started thinking how great it would be to combine them.
“That’s how I got started. Then a few years later, (production company) Endemol Shine was interested in doing this intergenerational program … and it all came together.
“Now we’re up to season three of Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds and we’re about to launch a whole new industry. It’s incredible how much we’ve achieved.”
Once again, it seems like Professor Fitzgerald has created a perfect match.
We are in the midst of a loneliness pandemic and this can be a cure