For their lives of selfless and at times courageous community service, these inspiring Aussies aged over 65 are in line to be named 2024 Senior Australian of the Year.

When geriatrician John Ward teamed up with some like-minded, forward-thinking people in his community with the goal of making their city and surrounding local government areas more age-friendly, his focus was on the isolated people he describes as more vulnerable because they “are not known to services”.

“We didn’t think the government on its own was going to do the right thing by older people,” Dr Ward said.

“When we started to look at housing, we thought we were dealing with just trying to increase the range of options for older people, which are pretty limited at the moment,” the 79-year-old said.

“Then we realised, of course, that the most rapidly growing group of homeless people were older women and the size of the housing problem was such that government alone was never going to solve it.”

The team is developing a co-living plan for older Australians to live with young people to help improve the quality of life for both.

The idea is consistent with Dr Ward’s belief that “healthy ageing” begins in childhood.

The most rapidly growing group of homeless people were older women and the size of the housing problem was such that government alone was never going to solve it.- Dr John Ward

“If we don’t look after the children who are in insecure housing, or homeless, or falling behind at school, there’s a whole cohort of people that have no chance ever of moving into healthy ageing,” he said.

Geriatrician Dr John Ward co-founded the Hunter Ageing Alliance. Picture supplied by australianoftheyear.org.au

Geriatrician and Hunter Ageing Alliance co-founder John Ward (NSW)

John Ward has devoted his life to providing outstanding medical care for disadvantaged people and ageing Australians – often at personal cost and with little recognition.

As director of the Prison Medical Service, he provided care to inmates – despite few resources – and advocated for prison reform to protect this vulnerable group.

Focusing on geriatric medicine and aged care since the mid-1980s, he advocates for older Australians and the importance of social determinants of health such as social connection, exercise and accessible environments. His integrated, collaborative approach to dementia care for patients and carers has made the Hunter a leader in this field.

John also co-founded the Hunter Ageing Alliance, which calls for governments, businesses and organisations to better focus on older people’s needs. The alliance has eight programs in planning or implementation stage to create age-friendly communities, tackle elder abuse and end social isolation of older people.

Read the full article – Meet the over-65s in line to be named 2024 Senior Australian of the Year | The Canberra Times | Canberra, ACT