COA Open House – a community working together for seniors

To celebrate Seniors’ Week last month, COA Sydney held an Open House with a difference. Instead of just showing off the many services and volunteer programs it offers, COA invited representatives of all the local Jewish organisations working in the aged care space to set up stalls where they could feature their services. The idea was to allow Jewish seniors and their families to see the full continuum of care available to them. More than 150 people attended and spoke with representatives from Jewish House, B’nai B’rith Retirement Villages, Burger Centre, JewishCare, Montefiore and Wolper Jewish Hospital. There were also independent discussion groups for seniors: the monthly JNF Morning Tea at the COA Centre, Sunday Discussions @ Random and University of the Third Age (which presents weekly on Fridays at the COA Centre). Of course, COA activities were also well represented, with separate tables for popular weekly groups knitting, art and bridge.

This event was not just a smorgasbord of information; it was also an opportunity to engage seniors in practical demonstrations of Tai Chi and modified Zumba. There were 30-minute demonstrations per activity and up to 22 people at a time joined in.

Wolper Jewish Hospital also presented its “Move Well” program, which is open to the public and is particularly targeted at seniors wanting to remain healthy while ageing.

No Jewish event is complete without food and the other highlight of the day was lunch, consisting of samples from COA’s Kosher Meals-on-Wheels menu. People’s faces lit up when they realised these were the same meals they could access through the Meals program. COA saw an increase in orders from the next working day.

COA sincerely thanks all the organisations that were part of the event, along with the volunteers and staff whose diligent work made it possible. It was great to see the genuine comradery between staff from the diverse organisations that serve the same clients in our community. With so many people offering so much, no senior in our community needs to feel isolated, or lack the help they require. They just need to reach out to find all the companionship, activities and services they need to live a full and active life in retirement.

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