As I write this, Victoria is again locked down. Such difficulties that we hardly can imagine for those caring for Older Australians within Aged Care Homes. I can only hope that the COVID vaccinations complete their roll out with the greatest of urgency.
There are so many things happening in the world of Aged Care; though we are still waiting for more detail both on the outcome of our Congress held last February and the detail of the impact of the Budget. I am ever hopeful but we do need to keep asking questions.
In the meantime, Tasting Australia, our very special Food Festival held in Adelaide in April, had Aged Care events, though sadly I was not in attendance. Kevin Reid, a valued member of the Maggie Beer Foundation Board, was and he sent me through some of the proceedings, and I encourage anyone who is interested to follow up Ngaire Hobbins (www.ngairehobbins.com) whose paper was ‘Why Nutrition Matters’. Ngaire is a Dietitian in Ageing and Brain Health. It’s so full of important information for we Older Australians.
The other paper was Dr. Fiona Kerr’s ‘Feeding your Two Brains’ and that paper challenging our knowledge of the gut is great reading. Dr. Fiona Kerr is attached to the University of Adelaide and an expert in her field.
There are so many people and organisations doing exciting work in this field. I recently attended a great Seniors Event at the Jack Young Centre in Salisbury; my fellow Board Member, Jane Mussared, Chief Executive of Cota SA had organised a workshop on the theme of food. There were about 80 guests at the workshop. The guest speaker was Professor John Coveney, Professor of Global Food, Culture and Health in the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Flinders; his talk was all about the importance of eating well for that general state of wellbeing so important to us but also the vital issue of the social aspects of food and what we gain from that. Jane and I had a conversation on the stage about the work of the Foundation and then we all lunched together. Eating together at this centre is something they do so well. Lunch was so generous and full of flavour and cooked with great heart from the kitchen with so many volunteers involved – it really was a great community event. You can read more here
I send my thoughts to all those in Victoria dealing with yet another lock down and hope for everyone to be protected.
Maggie