Healthy Age Friendly Homes Programme relaunched
A service aimed at supporting adults over 65 to remain living in their own homes and communities, available to residents of county Cork, has been relaunched by Cork County Council following the successful uptake since a pilot programme was run in 2021 by the local authority.
The Healthy Age Friendly Homes Programme has since been rolled out to every local authority in the country and has had over 400 participants in Cork county since then, with the ever-increasing demand expected to continue well into 2024.
To keep up with the increasing volume of referrals, Cork County Council now has two local coordinators and a regional programme manager to facilitate and enable older people to remain living in their own homes and to reduce the need to transfer to long-term residential care.
Mitchelstown’s Liz Downes, who is chair of Cork County’s Older People’s Council, spoke enthusiastically about the programme.
“The Age Friendly Homes Programme is a great initiative, assisting older persons in accessing services, grants and resources to enable them to stay happy and healthy at home, avoiding premature entry into long term care. On behalf of Cork County Older People’s Council and all our members we look forward to working with the local coordinators to promote the service.”
While noting that the country has an ageing population, the Mayor of the County of Cork, Cllr. Frank O’Flynn, stated the importance of such initiatives.
“We have a rapidly ageing population here in Ireland. Most people wish to remain living in their own homes and communities, which unfortunately is not always possible. The Healthy Age Friendly Homes Programme is an important, person-centred initiative aimed at helping older people to continue living in their homes or in one more suited to their needs,” he said.
For anyone looking for more information on how to refer someone or apply, visit www.corkcoco.ie