Seniors Program
“Life goes on for seniors”

Who said that because you are no longer 20, your life is over? Hello! 70 is the new 60. I have always admired elderly folks who took pride in ageing gracefully. They understand that ageing doesn’t mean it’s time to throw hands up in the air and surrender to retirement. We all know ageing just means there is another dimension of life to explore.

 
Most people may think that activities for seniors only offer physical advantages. The programs like these cater very well for a full-rounded approach, targeting the physical, mental, social, spiritual and emotional aspects. Seniors need to have a deeper sense of identity during this part of their lives. Developing the right activities for seniors will benefit them a lot. Given a number of varying factors, seniors have a higher risk of being socially isolated. This in turn has extensive ramifications on their health and well‐being, which then impacts on society as a whole. This scoping study focuses on the social isolation of seniors and, through the interviewing of seniors and the integrating of their voices with existing experiences as well as national and international research, explores viable ways of addressing it. The resulting findings suggest that while social isolation is a very complex issue, it is nonetheless important to look at it and address it in its full context of intergenerational living within society. This approach also leads to positive implications for the advancement of policy that can be both specific in relation to individuals.

 

This is a conjunctive program run by The City of Salisbury and Bhutanese Association in South Australia to promote well-being of Bhutanese seniors by encouraging them to keep mentally, physically and socially active, and where possible join an organized group according to one’s interest and contribute to it by becoming an active participant. The activities and programmes at the centre give senior the opportunity to experience adventures they probably never experienced before.

 

All our lives we worked looked after our families and most of the time we never got the chance to actually enjoy life. At the centre we put behind us all of life’s hassles and just focus on a better quality of life for Bhutanese seniors. Some of the activities that are run at the centre included tours, gardening, yoga, games like bag-chal, information sessions, and music to name a few. We also have lectures very often to keep seniors mentally motivated and we are hoping in the near future to add more activities. With all festivals, National Day and holidays are observed.

 

I request all the seniors to join the program on every Thursday which is scheduled to start from 3rd March 2011.

 

I would also like to thank all the individuals who have contributed their time to make the Bhutanese Seniors Program a successful one for the year 2010. Let’s come together and make 2011 program successful.

 

 

Tashi Delek

Kamal Dahal
Coordinator
Bhutanese Senior Program