In an exciting move before its national conference this week, aged care peak body, Aged and Community Services Australia (ACSA) is set to launch a social media campaign that highlights the positive stories of those living, volunteering and working in residential aged care.

Every person on this planet has a story and while the blockbusters may focus on fictional superheroes, there are heroes that have been walking among us for years, helping to love, care and bolster the spirits of some of Australia’s most vulnerable.

In seeking to roll out this initiative ACSA is showing an awareness of the world we live in and the basic needs of humans. With instagram being the highest user rate of all the social media platforms, experts have drawn conclusions about what makes us tick as humans. We love connection, we need community and we adore connecting with and hearing stories that we can relate to and become emotionally involved in.

So often seniors in our communities are neglected, out of sight and out of mind. The world is going on a dizzying pace and those that can’t keep up are easily ignored and forgotten. ACSA’s move to incorporate stories of workers, volunteers and residents in aged care is an important move to meet the world where it’s eyeballs are. Using social media and the platform it can give is a necessary step to projecting, honouring and listening to the voices of Australia’s seniors and those that seek to care for them.

The new initiative called Humans Of Aged Care is set to showcase the positive stories, however big or small, that have been going on in our aged care facilities for decades. It is now that they will have a chance to shine. We at Autumn Care are excited about this initiative. We have been striving and will continue to strive in doing the same. Highlighting the faces and personalities that help make our communities work and thrive. Read more about Marilyn, one of our team members seeking to help our residents thrive.

CEO of ACSA, Pat Sparrow spoke into the motives surrounding the social media campaign, “Humans of Aged Care is a storytelling platform to present all the positive aspects of aged care and give voice to those who make up our industry.”

We can all be a part of the move to have our positive aged care stories showcased to the world. Using personal or professional social media accounts, ask a nurse or volunteer at the residence where your loved one lives if they would be willing to have their photo taken and a story about them put up on social media. Every story counts in connecting us as a community.