A John Richards Initiative research project spanning three states will get underway after the La Trobe University Border team secured $1.7 million in funding.
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The Virtual Dementia Friendly Rural Community (VERILY) project was one of 42 across the country successful in applying for federal government support.
Clare Wilding, who is leading the project, said the JRI team was now busy setting up the two-year program, directed at carers of people living with dementia.
“It’s about supporting 12 rural communities; eight in Victoria, two in NSW and two in South Australia, using online technologies to support them,” she said.
“We’re going to use a variety of different means of online support to help carers to have access to information they need and to get support from other people in a similar situation.
“Older people need support to learn how to use online technologies – they want to learn but lack the confidence to do it.”
A website and smartphone app to help carers navigate services available will be a key initiative.
Dr Wilding said it followed on from a previous app developed out of JRI.
“We piloted the app last year and we found out what was good about it and what wasn’t – we’re going to make modifications,” she said.
“It’s knowing the different services that might be useful to you in your local area, and we’re also going to be doing video conferencing.
“It won’t necessarily be with someone from their town, so they can have the anonymity if they want – some of the feedback we got previously was people are sometimes concerned about privacy.”
As well as these video conferences for support groups, JRI will set up mentoring hubs, with volunteers assisting people in learning about online tools.
The nearest participating communities are Mansfield and Orange, but Dr Wilding said there was opportunity to do more, and closer to home, in the future.
“It’s not to mean we couldn’t have a community that’s closer to here at some stage; it just isn’t part of it at this point,” she said.
“What we’re hoping will come out of this project is a prototype or toolbox other rural communities can pick up and implement.
“The first step will be to visit the 12 communities in September and October, and we’ll start to implement the project from January.”
