Count us in! report of a pilot project addressing social inclusion for people living in residential aged care

The Department of Human Services Count Us In! initiative was launched in 2006 to promote social inclusion for people living in residential aged care. The initiative provided grants to community organizations and Public Sector Residential Aged Care Services (PSRACS) to implement 16 pilot projects across metropolitan and rural Victoria. The aims of the projects were to: * identify and break down barriers to social inclusion * provide current residents with opportunities to be involved in positive activities * produce positive examples of approaches that work * establish and build on existing resources and networks to support inclusion * change behaviours, attitudes and cultures of all stakeholders. This presentation describes one such pilot project run by Eastern Access Community Health (EACH) and implemented in 2007/2008 in Healesville, in Melbourne’s outer east. The project was successful, not only in meeting all criteria but by becoming self-sustainable at the end of the pilot phase. The project is marked as an exemplar due to its ease of implementation and its ability to bring together different community and partnership sectors, but also because of its relative low cost and high capacity to deliver benefits to its identified population group. The most important aspect of this particular project, however, is its potential to be easily applied in other areas on a state-wide or even National basis.