“SIGNIFICANT” savings can be made by the State in health and care costs if older people are encouraged to engage in creative arts and in physical activity, according to a new report due to be published tomorrow.
The report, by NUI Galway’s (NUIG) Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, endorses the importance of “keeping a sense of adventure in our veins”, according to Age and Opportunity chief executive Catherine Rose.
The research, conducted by Dr Áine Ní Léime and Prof Eamon O’Shea of the NUIG centre, involved an evaluation of programmes run by Age and Opportunity, the national not-for-profit organisation. It found that its programmes, including the Bealtaine arts festival which celebrates older age each May, and Go for Life, which promotes sport and physical activity, confer considerable physical, psychological and social benefits.
“We’re very aware that the kind of work we do is under the radar, but this report, which we commissioned, shows there is a considerable value attached to it,” Ms Rose said. “Even if you just consider it in terms of sheer economics, we are saving the State spending on health and long-term care costs.”
The organisation also focuses on addressing the stigma attached to growing older. “Older people have to be seen as a bounty and not a burden to society,” Ms Rose said. “If you think of it, all the positive phrases are associated with young people and the negative with older people. We have to challenge the language continuously.
One of the report’s authors, Prof Eamon O’Shea, said, “Interest in age and ageing in Ireland has never been higher,” describing Age and Opportunity as an organisation which has been “bold and imaginative”.
Prof Tom Scharf, the new director of NUIG’s Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, described the report as an excellent example of academic research connecting with “lay” audiences. “In my view, this type of work should also be better acknowledged by our academic peers, who tend to focus rather narrowly on outputs in academic journals that remain unread,” he said.
Prof Scharf is due to speak at the report’s publication, along with former model Grace O’Shaughnessy, in the Wood Quay Venue, Dublin Civic Offices, tomorrow morning.