HEAD OF ENTERPRISE THOMAS MCEVOY ON BUSINESS IN LOUTH
THE Great Northern Haven has been described as one of Louth’s crown jewels by the chief executive of Louth county council.
A collaborative housing project developed by the local authority, Netwell Casala at DkIT and the HSE, it has become a best practice model, demonstrating a gold standard in independent living for older people.
Joan Martin recalled that in 2009, Louth became Ireland’s first age-friendly county, a concept now embraced by all 31 local authorities.
She added a report before the June meeting of the council, on housing for older people, draws from the learning and experience of Great Northern Haven.
Rod Bond, chair of Louth Age Friendly County Alliance and head of Netwell Casala, noted it is ten years from the initial concept of Great Northern Haven, which is centred on older people’s needs and aspirations.
Not just a residential devel- opment, he described it as a living lab.
The Great Northern Haven project was developed in 2007 to promote independent living for older people.
The 16 apartment complex in Barrack Street was particularly progressive, combining innovative housing design, technology to monitor wellbeing with improved access to formal and informal social supports.
The project has been a major success with twelve of the original fifteen residents still living in the apartments.
The other, perhaps more significant measure of the success of the project, has been the learnings from the project and the reach those learnings are having in national housing strategy policy for older people.
Age Friendly Ireland carried out an extensive impartial study into the Great Northern Haven, looking at the Great Northern Haven housing model along with other exemplary housing models in Naas, Thurrock in the UK and Bamberg in Germany.
The resulting report ‘Housing for older people: Future Perspectives’ which was launched in Limerick in April, demonstrates how the Great Northern is a best practice model in how to best support older people living independently.
In particular, it highlighted three key aspects of the Great Northern Haven that make it such a good model for housing for older people; the physical location (within 1 km of shops and public amenities), technology (using internal monitors to give security, support and comfort to residents and their families) and critically the strong social supports provided by both the HSE and Netwell Casala.
‘ This is a wonderful endorsement for a truly collaborative approach to housing for older people by Louth County Council, Netwell Casala at DkIT and the HSE” said Mr Bond.
‘ The critical thing for all of us, was that the needs of the older person were front and centre of the project and I believe this has enabled us to develop some- thing truly innovative.’
The Age Friendly Ireland report was presented at the council meeting on Monday by Ashling Costello, one of the authors of the report, who said ‘ the aim of this report is to inform housing policy for older people and to encourage a collaborative approach between agencies to develop housing that truly meets the needs of older people.
‘It is fantastic to get the opportunity to present the report to Louth County Council and to see how well it is being received both here and in other counties and most importantly, ten years after the Great Northern Haven project began, how it’s learnings are now beginning to influence housing decisions for older people.’
The chief executive, Joan Martin added that it is very important to know that the initiative has the backing of the elected members.