Inter-generational project lights up both old and young

The two organisations have teamed up to build relationships beneficial to both the elderly people living in Milesian Manor and the young people being supported by Kinship Care NI.

Children from Kinship Care will visit Milesian Manor on a regular basis and engage in a range of fun activities with the residents, the series of events kicked off with a ‘Pimp My Ride’ style project which saw the old and young come together to decorate the walking sticks and Zimmer frames of the residents.

Explaining the background Cara Macklin, managing director of Milesian Manor Lifestyle Care Home, said: “At Milesian Manor our focus is on not only meeting all nursing, health care and industry requirements but that we also go one step further in caring for our residents overall wellbeing and ultimate happiness, part of that is to keep our residents as integrated into the community as possible.

“We created the role of a Business and Community Engagement Coordinator which was our first step towards working more effectively with the local community, from that, we have identified a number of local organisations and charities that we are planning on working with over the coming months, Kinship Carers is the first of many and I am very excited about this one.

“We firmly believe that the young people involved will help to bring lots of laughs and smiles to our residents, but that our residents can offer something truly special in return to these young people.”

Kinship Care NI is a charity which works to keep families together under difficult circumstances by supporting children who cannot be cared for by their own parents to live safely and securely within their own families and communities.

Rose Hughes from Kinship Care NI, said: “Children helped by Kinship Care NI have been through tough and sad times and they can often find interactions with adults and also their peers hard to navigate, when Milesian Manor approached us we were delighted to be involved and confident that these children would benefit greatly from engaging with the older generation.”

She added that extensive research internationally suggested that introducing these sort of inter-generational activities could be vital to both young and old, increasing self esteem.