About the sessions:
We use a peer education model to run sessions that encourage seniors to talk to seniors about how to age in healthy ways.
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Sample Brochures |
Topics Available:
COTA (ACT) and the NPS work in partnership to deliver a topic titled: Medicines and You
140,000 visits to hospitals each year are medicine related problems
and more than half of these are preventable
The focus of this session is on learning about medicines - the options available, where to go for information, what questions you should be asking your health professional, information about generic medicines and the steps we can all take to get the most out of our health.
Medicines information for seniors
COTA, in partnership with NPS - Better choices, Better health, delivers free information sessions to Australian seniors, to help you get the best out of your medicines.
Independent, not-for-profit and evidence based, NPS enables better decisions about medicines and medical tests. NPS is funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.
NPS produces free resources to help you with your medicines, including:
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Medicines List The Medicines List is a handy tool you can use to record the medicines you take. Keep your medicines list up-to-date and bring it with you when you visit the doctor. Some of the most important things you need to know — what your medicine is for, how much to use and when to use it — are on the medicines list.
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Sleep quiz How well do you sleep? Take the quiz* on the NPS website to learn about the quality of your sleep. You can use the results from the sleep quiz to discuss any concerns with your doctor.
Visit www.nps.org.au/sleep for some useful tips to help you get to sleep – and stay asleep.
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MedicinesTalk Written by consumers for consumers, MedicinesTalk is a free quarterly newsletter that gives you reliable, accurate information and useful hints on managing your medicines.
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Be MedicineWise flyer It can be a challenge to keep track of everything you need to know about your medicines and what to discuss with your doctor or pharmacist.
NPS has developed the Be MedicineWise flyer to remind you of the things you can do to learn about, discuss and manage your health and medicines. Click here to order.
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Managing chronic pain NPS and Arthritis NSW have developed a booklet to help you manage your arthritis pain, in consultation with your doctor and other health professionals. The booklet includes a pain diary to help you track your levels of pain. An information brochure about arthritis pain is also available in traditional Chinese script.
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* © 2010,1989, University of Pittsburgh. All rights reserved. Developed by Buysse,D.J., Reynolds,C.F., Monk,T.H., Berman,S.R., and Kupfer,D.J. of the University of Pittsburgh using National Institute of Mental Health Funding.
You can access all NPS resources on the website: www.nps.org.au/consumers
COTA (ACT) and beyondblue: the national depression initiative work in partnership to deliver a topic titled:
beyond maturityblues
Over 1000,000 Australians each year experience a depressive illness, 1 in 5 women and 1 in 8 men
The focus of this session is on learning about depression - participants will increase their knowledge about depression, it's signs and symptoms and how they can support people to seek help. Our aim is to decrease the stigma around depression and demonstrate that it's not a normal part of ageing.
Community Education
Community Education encourages and enables seniors in our community to minimise the risks to their health and wellbeing, increase awareness of services and provide practical, empowering information.
Our sessions are delivered using a Peer Eduction model, this is the process where people who share common ground teach and learn from one another. COTA (ACT) trains seniors who then volunteer their time to talk to seniors in our community about healthy ageing issues.
For further information or to book a session for your club, community organisation, special interest group, church group, service club, neighbourhood centre - in fact any group that meets then contact the Community Education Manager, on 62823777 or e-mail peereducation@cota-act.org.au.