Karana residents Betty Winkler and Nancy Flynn enjoyed the friendships they formed with Sacred Heart College VCE VM students Bailey Smith, Mia Spiteri, Harry Hogan and Xander Smith during their weekly visits to the home as part of the Yarrawonga Health and Sacred Heart College partnership.
Yarrawonga Health and Sacred Heart College have recommenced their partnership to bring young people in the community together with residents in both Warrina and Karana Aged Care with an afternoon tea and presentation held last week.
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Year 11 VCE VM (Victorian Certificate of Education – Vocational Major) students have been spending one day a week with the residents, creating relationships and getting an understanding of how each group live their lives whilst finding out what the residents require that the students could build as part of their project.
Yarrawonga Health Co-Ordinator of Volunteers Jo Spence approached Scared Heart College in early 2022 about the partnership as she had had experience in creating opportunities for young people to spend time with older people and witnessed the exceptional outcomes from these interactions.
“This is the second year of the partnership between Yarrawonga Health and Sacred Heart College to provide opportunities for our residents and students to come together,” Ms Spence said.
“We extended the program this year to include both Karana and Warrina residents which was a bit of a rollercoaster however the staff and students from both organisations were able to work through this with understanding and compassion.
“Students were able to also experience with the residents the exposure to the virtual reality goggles, learn how to play new games and have many in depth discussions about farming, footy, pets and our local area.
Xander Smith, Mia Spiteri, Joe Knight, Harry Hogan and Bailey Smith with the projects they completed at school to take pride of place at Warrina and Karana Aged Care.
“These activities sat alongside the students working on other projects that allowed them to complete the work offsite. The projects were developed from feedback from our residents.
“This year also saw an extension of our partnerships with Bunnings providing resources for the table builds and the Mens Shed assisting with developing the proto types. It was great to see our community partners all coming together to support the intergenerational program.
“The successes that we have seen in the enthusiasm of the students and residents to be involved in the program is something that we will continue to develop for the program in 2024.”
Sacred Heart College VCE Coordinator Richard Geary said the project has been beneficial to both generations in several aspects and the school hopes to continue the project for years to come.
“The opportunity to have intergenerational engagement was a great success last year as it provided plenty of positives to students to work towards a goal and learn how to act with intergenerational community members,” Mr Geary said.
“It has been great to see the relationships that have been formed and to hear the stories of the residents.
“This program has also given the students more motivation to complete their projects when they know they were something that was requested by the residents and will be used at the aged care.
“Each project was allocated depending on what each student is good at.”
Students of Sacred Heart College’s VCE VM join Yarrawonga Health Lifestyle Therapist Candi Hammond and Lifestyle Co-ordinator Jeanie Ford in cutting the cake for afternoon tea as the end of the 2023 intergenerational program between Sacred Heart College and Yarrawonga Health.
Brock Johnson, Harry Hogan, Bailey Smith, Lewis Hunter Looby, Joe Knight, Mia Spiteri, Xander Smith and Mikyala Demaio built bedside tables while Trinny Preer decorated them for several residents which were painted and decorated to the residents’ liking.
“It has been a great experience,” Joe said. “These tables are somewhere to put your coffee cups and any small objects you would like really,” Brock added.
Mia Spiteri created and built a scarecrow for the aged care facilities ‘Garden Patch’ which is now pride of place scaring off birds from the residents home grown vegetables.
“This scarecrow is to place in the ‘Garden Patch’. I have loved having you all as company so feel free to name him and introduce him into your warm community,” Mia said.
Harry and Bailey restored the facilities bench seat which is enjoyed by residents sitting out in the sunshine.
“We found when we purchased the wood that we had a bit more work to do and have also put a stabiliser in the middle also to ensure the seat is stable,” Harry said.
“We thank you for entrusting us to restore your bench seat,” Bailey added.
All of the students also took, printed and laminated photos for the residents to place in their rooms.
“We have some photos here that will help update your photo wall and decorate your rooms with some happy faces,” Mikayla said.
Resident Lorna Loughnan summed up the experience for the residents saying: “I love the kids and love seeing them here.”
Yarrawonga Health Lifestyle Co-ordinator Jeanie Ford said the reception to the project from the residents has been great and it was rewarding for staff to see the residents get involved.
“It has been great for them for the interactions they have had with people they generally would not spend time with,” Ms Ford said.
“They have made great connections and it has been heart-warming to see the smiles on all of their faces.”
Yarrawonga Health and Sacred Heart College look forward to this partnership continuing in 2024 and beyond.
