The Aged Care Enrichment Podcast is run by tech company SilVR Adventures. The Melbourne-based company makes Virtual Reality tech for aged care homes around Australia, improving residents’ quality of life during the pandemic with group VR sessions. They were a finalist for LASA’s 2020 innovAGEING awards.
Do you want positive news on the future of aged care? There’s a podcast for that.
The Aged Care Enrichment Podcast series interviews industry experts, advocates, and innovators from around the world on key topics in aged care. The now-weekly podcast made it to Apple Podcast’s Top 100 Mental Health Podcasts and has regular listeners from more than 30 countries.
Host Ash de Neef said the podcast was always about giving a platform to new approaches to aged care. And it does: topics range from “Ageing in Scandinavia” to “Creative Arts and Nature in the American Aged Care System”.
“We saw that there was a need in the industry to get some of these voices out,” Ash said.
“So we’re really thrilled with how it’s taken off.”
The insights come from around the globe.
“We’re really trying to represent voices from around the world.”
Dementia “not all doom and gloom”
Ash said his most memorable guests are Austalia’s Kate Swaffer and Christine Bryden. Both ladies have achieved great things after being diagnosed with younger onset dementia, and are changing the meaning of dementia awareness through their activism.
“there’s a lot of positive things to come out of a diagnosis.”
“To me they were really, really fascinating episodes because I think we have a lot of misconceptions about what it means to get a diagnosis of dementia,” Ash said.
“They explain what their lives were like (after diagnosis) and how it’s not all doom and gloom, and that actually there’s a lot of positive things that come out of a diagnosis.”
“It’s definitely changed how I view aged care.”
Hosting the Enrichment Podcast has given Ash a new perspective on aged care and older adults in general.
“It’s definitely changed how I view aged care,” he said.
“I came very fresh into this with a whole bunch of misconceptions and biases and to have them slowly peeled away from me every week has been really fascinating.
“It’s definitely made me think a lot differently about older adults and about the continuum of care. And also about the way that people just assume that once you hit a certain age, you can no longer do X, Y, and Z and it’s all about what you lose instead of what you gain.”
Tune into a monthly panel of aged care experts
As well as their weekly interviews the podcast now offers panel-style episodes, where multiple guests discuss a topic. The first explores activities programming in residential care and home care.
“We’re really excited to branch out into that space and be a bridge between people from different places and different positions, because there’s so much knowledge that maybe isn’t easy to access.”
Catch episodes every Tuesday on your favourite podcast platform.
Alex is a journalist and freelance writer who loves bringing you inspiring stories. Have an idea for a story? Let her know at adevylder@iinet.net.au