Connecting people & communities CRANBOURNE Thursday, 21 July, 2016
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■ 'Mayor' of Blind Bight says it with flowers...
Bob the bloomer By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
Property Investment Safe & Easy safesuperhomes.com.au 9702 2595
Bob O'Connell stopping by Blind Bight neighbour Neville Harvey, with a flower of course! 156725 Bob’s sister, Janice Munt, former Labor Member for Mordialloc, calls the flower drop off: “Community looking after community.” “It’s a real comfort to older people living alone to know that someone’s checking that they are okay and it’s such a gentle way to do it,” Ms Munt
BUY 2
said. Bob, a Blind Bight resident of 20 years, said his safety walk became more important to him than ever before after a neighbour who lived alone, fell over in his home and subsequently died. And Bob, a new member of the Coastal Villages Neighbourhood Watch, assures locals he
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IN Blind Bight, a flower a day keeps the ambulance at bay. Known to some as the unofficial Mayor of Blind Bight, Bob O’Connell knows his neighbours by nickname and by flower. Bob has managed to walk his dog, keep his “beer belly” down, and check up on his over 65-year-old neighbours with the help of a flower, for around 16 years. To ensure his ageing neighbours, who live alone are safe and well, Bob drops a flower off at their door on his morning walk. “If I don’t see them that’s when I drop the flower,” Bob said. “And if it’s not picked up the next day I’ll knock on their door.” Some days it might just be a sprig of tea-tree, but it’s a message that someone cares, Bob said. “Everyone looks out for one another in small communities, and dropping the flower off is a way of knowing they are alright without being too intrusive,” he said. Data released in August last year, from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), showed a direct correlation between falls in people over the age of 65. According to the AIHW the most common causes of injury in 2012-'13 were falls, at 40 per cent and transport crashes at 12 per cent. During that year over 170,000 people were hospitalised as a result of a fall. Over half the cases were people aged over 65 years, and most people hospitalised for a fall injury in this age group were women. The AIHW also reported an increase in injury hospitalisation, with falls the leading cause. Casey Neighbourhood Watch chairperson, Robert Ward has applauded the floral safety idea and hopes to see it spread across Casey. “It’s a great example of someone taking initiative to promote community safety,” Robert said. “And they are a very vulnerable cohort of older people living alone and this is a simple way of showing we care - it can make a world of difference.”
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won’t stop walking anytime soon. “It’s a compulsory walk for the dog - so rain, hail or shine I’ll be walking, and of course I’ll be dropping off flowers,” Bob said. To get involved in Neighbourhood Watch in your area visit: www.nhw.com.au
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