Doncare’s Social Support for Seniors Program provides social and recreational outings for seniors living in their own homes and who are, or could be, at risk of becoming isolated socially.
For 29 years, Doncare’s Social Support for Seniors Program has been providing innovative, exciting and well-supported opportunities for socially isolated seniors to access social groups and outings whilst living in their own homes. The aim of the program is to enhance their independence, their personal wellbeing and enjoy friendships by providing companionship and social connections.
The Social Support for seniors program provides volunteer supported social and recreational outings in the Manningham community. The Social Support Program is a government funded program developed to prevent social isolation and provide links for older people with disabilities who are housebound or isolated due to mobility difficulties, lack of confidence, geographic or other factors. The program aims to provide a comprehensive, coordinated and integrated range of basic maintenance and support the frail and elderly to be more independent at home and in the community, thereby enhancing their quality of life and/or preventing inappropriate admission to long-term residential care. Our aim is to help older people to enjoy a satisfying and rewarding quality of life by providing a responsive, flexible service that will assist individuals to retain their independence for as long as possible. The program offers a number of small group activities, which cater to a range of interests and backgrounds. Options to determine the most suitable group for the participant are discussed during the individual assessment.
- All activities take place in community venues
- Each group has regular members and are kept to a size for participants to get to know each other and form friendships
- Costs are kept to a minimum and venues selected have a reasonably priced or seniors menu available
- Transport is door to door, for which a contribution of $6.00* is requested to assist with reimbursement of volunteer’s travel costs
- Costs do vary from group to group and you will be informed of likely costs prior to going out
*Please speak with the Program Manager if ongoing group costs would cause you financial difficulty
In addition, Doncare provides an Aged Care Volunteer Visitors Scheme (ACVVS) which enables volunteers to visit people in their own home, or in Residential Aged Care, for companionship and friendship. For more information on this program, click here.
This program is part of the Commonwealth Home Support Programme (CHSP), funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. For more information go to www.health.gov.au
