Community stories: 22 December 2020
At Nagambie Healthcare (NHC), fostering a friendly and inclusive community with a strong social fabric is just one of their many goals, as they provide supported living, respite and palliative care.
Overlooking the beautiful Nagambie Lake, the NHC facility has been providing care for the elderly since 1926. Locally owned and supported, the team understands the challenges their patients have faced by living in a rural area, and the social isolation that follows.
To create a stronger sense of connection between the different generations in Nagambie, NHC looked at different projects that could bring together the young and the old for a collaborative activity that would be sustainable for the generations to come, and would improve the environment surrounding their facilities.
After consulting with their residents, it became clear that there was a strong desire to pass along their knowledge from the many years spent gardening. The idea was to create community garden, where members of the community could come together the share knowledge, preserve local history, and promote life long learning.
The ‘Let Us Grow Together’ project involves residents of NHC, local schools and kindergartens, as they grow potted plants to sell in their thrift shop for special festive occasions, and grow vegetables for the their kitchen, which supplies produce for residents. The garden has been so popular that the activity has extended into creating a recipe book as a fundraising activity for NHC.
NHC applied for the Caring for Ageing Rural Australians grant from FRRR, which provided $6,250 to build the hot house that is now enjoyed by aged care resident, community members and community groups.
While the garden has been a huge success, NHC are most proud of the level of participation from residents and community members with dementia, and seeing the reward they gained from taking part.
The garden has provided residents at Nagambie Healthcare with a new activity to keep their passions alive, and pass their knowledge along to their local community. And as the saying goes – from little things, big things grow – and FRRR is proud to support NHC as they continue to grow.
