Reflections from John Craig, our Chief Executive in Older People’s Week
It’s rare that rugby grabs my attention, but it did this week. The coverage of Wales noted that Alun Wyn Jones is all the more impressive for leading his team from lock forward, where he spends most of his time head down driving forward. Yes, I thought, that’s what my summer has felt like!
The funny thing about becoming a Community Interest Company on 1st June is that by the 2nd June people are congratulating you, but – secretly – the job is half-done. We have been working hard since then to establish the countless tools, policies and approaches that a good organisation needs. It’s been hard work but we are getting there!
If that summer wasn’t ageing enough, I turned 40 last week. As the boss of a healthy ageing organisation, it’s shaming to say that I didn’t feel great about it. Might Older People’s week not just be about other people but about me!? Of course it is. Our attitudes to ageing – sometimes buried in our psyche until birthday time – matter hugely at any age. It matters if we put our slowing gait down to ‘age’ rather than declining fitness, and it matters if we view retirement through the eyes of our grandparents. We all – I am telling myself – have moments of age-anxiety, but what we think, know and feel about ageing can be changed, and can make our lives better.
Simple constructs like an Older People’s Week are great because they prompt us to celebrate healthy ageing, and in the process to change our minds a little. Kudos to LB Barking & Dagenham for such a great programme of events this week.
At Care City, our work often starts with technology. A new tool can open up new possibilities, but never changes the world on its own. However – across our work with carers, service users and health and care staff – our focus is just as much on what people do, and what they know, think and feel about ageing. For example, in our work in our Test Bed programme, hearing not just about domiciliary carers growing expertise, but their growing confidence and pride that they can make a positive difference to service users’ health has been hugely motivating.
We celebrated Older People’s week early, with the first full meeting of our Community Board. Bringing together staff and service users from across East London to support and challenge our work, it was a brilliant session looking at our work in health data, and some of the practical and ethical questions health data raises. When we share our work with people, they always make it better. Having emerged from the fog of becoming a CIC and established our Community Board, we are now in a position to do more of that sharing, not just this week but as part of the core work of Care City, and we are very excited about it.
