AddressBrighten someone's day! Be a friend and companion for an older person.
Do you want to give back to your community?
Becoming and Aged Care Volunteer is incredibly rewarding!
The Aged Care Volunteer Visitor Scheme (ACVVS) is a government funded program aiming to reduce loneliness and increase social support and connectedness of older people in our community.
Older people are particularly vulnerable to becoming socially isolated, especially if they don't have any family around. Our volunteers play an important part in keeping them connected with regular visits.
For as little as one hour per fortnight you can make a world of difference to someone's life.
Our recipients come from many different backgrounds and enjoy many different activities.
We carefully match you with someone in the same area with similar interests and backgrounds.
The program gives you back what you put into it, and both our Volunteer Visitors and recipients report an increased sense of fulfilment, happiness, and community connectivity.
What do Volunteer Visitors do?
• Provide regular contact to a local socially isolated older person who lives in a residential Aged Care facility or who receives a Home Care Package enabling them to keep living at home.
• Commit at least one hour per fortnight, for at least 6 months, to providing companionship and friendship for an older person. We understand that life can change, so are flexible and responsive to your changing needs.
• Face-to-face visits are always preferred but if this is impractical, we support other communication methods.
• Visits are customised between the Volunteer Visitor and the older person. Depending on the preferences of both people, there may be conversation, listening to music, walks, gardening, games, theatre, or more!
What do we do for you?
• Based on your location, interests and preferences, we will match you with a suitable isolated older person.
• Our orientation, induction and insurance covers all the information and resources needed to make sure your experience as a Volunteer Visitor is safe, fun and rewarding.
• Our friendly ACVVS Project Officer provides you with personalised, ongoing support, tailored to your specific needs.
• We are committed to making sure you feel valued and heard, through recognition, rewards and special events.
• As a volunteer with Community Gateway, you can access ongoing training opportunities to grow your skills and experience.
Benefits of volunteering
• Volunteering can be a rewarding experience, both for the person you visit as well as yourself. Regular visits from volunteers can help to improve quality of life and help older people to feel less isolated. Your visits will bring great joy to the person you are matched with.
Important conditions
• You must be over 18 years of age
• During your orientation, you will need to undergo a National Police Check, which is conducted and paid for by us
• Before you can visit any scheme recipient, you must provide evidence of at least two COVID 19 vaccinations
What now?
If you're ready to start visiting please click on the apply now link and you will be taken to an application form.
From there our ACVVS Project Officer, Jessie Graham, will be in contact with you.
If you have questions about the program please call Jessie on 0467 937 *** or email *********@nrcg.org.au.
Thank you for your interest!
