Have a Go Day Rockingham
Wednesday 17 April 2019 | 10.00am – 2.00pm
Aqua Jetty (map)
Visit event website
“I want to be able to go out on my own again” was one of Linda’s top goal after a major knee replacement surgery, that resulted in her reliance on mobility aids and dependence on family attention during her 8 months of slow rehabilitation at 65 years of age. A professional athlete and dancer in her prime years, she missed her freedom and independence. Having to recover from two major falls at home hindered her recovery and caused her to lose her confidence going out alone.
Linda’s goal is typical of many who are homebound and undergoing rehabilitation after a hospital procedure or having to recover from an unfortunate life changing event such as an accident. In these likely depressing situations, Independent Living (without having to rely on others) and Quality of Life (freedom & confidence that Linda needs to leave the house alone) is key to one’s happiness, overall health and wellbeing.
Many of us are familiar with the terms ‘Independent Living’ and ‘Rehabilitation’. Little focus has been placed on ‘Reablement’ – enabling one to regain confidence or find new ways to self-manage. For someone like Linda, reablement is just as important as her physical recovery.
Many of us rely on our occupational therapist to prescribe reasonable and necessary aids to achieve our independent living, rehabilitation and reablement goals. But for those of us who don’t have one, we never get introduced to assistive technology aids available for us to do things easier (like get in and out of the car), do things safer (prevent potential falls) and do things smarter (think no-tie elastic shoe laces). Assistive aids provide the most common solutions used to overcome barriers in carrying out everyday activities. Yet people who want to remain independent because of age or injury know so little about them to take advantage of their benefits.
Have a Go Day Rockingham is a free community event, traditionally held at Aqua Jetty in the City of Rockingham. Organized by the Seniors Recreation Council of WA, this age friendly event provides an excellent opportunity for local groups, service providers, government departments and businesses to promote information about their services to seniors in a one-stop location.
To make sense of these community buzzwords and new government reforms to enable senior Australians to live safely in their own homes for longer, Unicare Health’s free assistive equipment information booth will be a highlight at Have a Go Day with an adopted new look to connect with our community keen to learn about assistive technology use to achieve independent living, rehabilitation and reablement goals.
“The aim of our equipment information booth is to educate our aging community of the benefits associated of preserving one’s independence and how that can be achieved through assistive technology aids. The more people are educated about equipment supports available and how to use them, the more they can be encouraged to regain or retain their confidence and gain greater control over their own lives without having to rely on others.” says Unicare Health.
The Rockingham community is encouraged to visit Unicare Health’s booth at Have a Go Day to ‘have a go’ with everyday living aids, home care equipment, walkers, mobility scooters and get to know new to market assistive aids available to make everyday living easier.
Event enquires to Seniors Recreation Council Rockingham branch srcwarockingham@gmail.com
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Posted on 28 Mar 2019