Senior citizens encouraged to spring back into social settings and connectedness

The Stratford Chirpy-Friday group. Photo/ Supplied

Taranaki's senior citizens are encouraged to spring back to social connectedness with a new campaign.

Spring Back is a Taranaki-wide promotional campaign run by the World Health Organisation (WHO) Age Friendly New Plymouth groups.

The aim of the campaign is to encourage seniors to participate in activities in the community, and to provide tips on how others can get their friends to come along.

During October the campaign will promote a range of activities from Age Friendly New Plymouth partner organisations New Plymouth Positive Ageing Trust, Age Concern Taranaki, Taranaki District Health Board, the Taranaki Disability information Centre Trust and the New Plymouth Injury Safe Trust.

Community connector Alex McNab says with the Covid-19 pandemic and social isolation, senior citizens have become more isolated and lonely.

Social isolation and loneliness can have a devastating impact on all aspects of one's health, says Alex.

"The campaign idea came about as a number of community organisations part of the WHO Age Friendly initiative noticed a drop off in attendance numbers for group activities."

Taking a collaborative approach is the best way to promote social connectedness, she says.

"Taranaki has abundant accessible outdoor spaces and many programmes, classes and activities designed for seniors. Spring Back is supporting community organisations, utilising pre-existing resources, and encouraging people to take actionable steps to begin socialising."

One of the activities is the Stratford Chirpy-Friday group. This is a morning activity run through Age Concern, where senior citizens come together to hear a few jokes, sing some songs, and catch up over a cuppa and biscuit.

Alex says she attended one of the sessions.

"I asked why they come along to this activity. Some of them said that they love the music, seeing friendly faces, coming along to hear jokes, and they enjoy meeting people."

She also asked if they had any tips to encourage senior citizens to come to different activities.

"They laughingly said 'just drag your friends out and keep ringing if you haven't heard from them'. The atmosphere was very positive and it would be so wonderful to see more friendly faces enjoying the company of others."