Yackandandah Health was delighted to partner with Tijana Simic on her concept of a Care Sanctuary for the recent state government Pick My Project initiative. We were even more delighted when the project received $200,000 in funding.
In part, this success was because Tijana helped our residents to access the community voting process which otherwise took place mostly online.
The Care Sanctuary is a therapeutic space including a barn, paddocks and productive garden for use by our residents and the whole community. It will contribute to people’s wellbeing as numerous studies have shown that human-animal contact can improve physical, social and mental health.
Visitors can spend time with a range of animals including goats, chickens and guinea pigs. Activities will include patting, brushing and feeding animals, cleaning the barn and working in the garden with the help of an experienced staff member.
As many of our residents are from farming backgrounds, leaving farms and animals behind to move to residential facilities can be associated with trauma, loss and grief.
High rates of depression are reported in aged care facilities (up to 52% compared with 10-15% of older people living in the community). This project aims to restore purpose in the residents’ lives with meaningful activities promoting activity and outdoor engagement with flow-on effects for the whole community. It is expected that the new Childcare Centre and community members and groups will use the Sanctuary.
Tijana will provide an update on the project at our AGM on 29 November.