Minister for Senior Citizens and Active Ageing Michael Farrugia announced that seventy-three employees from the Department of Active Ageing and Community Care will be coached through two specialised programmes, one addressing vulnerabilities amongst the elderly and another dealing with assisting the elderly through the arts of music, painting and drama.
These training programmes will be offered by the University of Malta, thanks to a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the University and the Department for Active Ageing and Community Care. Minister Michael Farrugia stated that although there are several other similar arrangements with the University of Malta, this agreement will strengthen collaboration and co-operation in lifelong learning between the two parties.
He stressed the importance of offering all the educational support possible to our workers in order to achieve a better service. The Minister continued by saying that such educational programmes will secure high quality services to our elderly.
Minister Michael Farrugia went on by stating that the Department will be offering placement opportunities to those University students reading courses related to gerontology. This will lead to an early identification of elderly suffering either abuse, or becoming vulnerable, or loss of self-sustainability, thus enabling prompt assistance. This will help workers become more conscious of elderly vulnerability, thus striking an early alarm to the Department for immediate action. Participation in the Arts will also provide active inclusion of the elderly.
The Department for Active Ageing and Community Care will be sponsoring all the programmes and each programme shall consist of 20 hours spread over three months, and upon completion, participants shall be awarded a certificate of attendance.
