70-year-old Margaret Cook from aged care home Mercy Place Montrose has gone skydiving for the first time, as part of a Mercy Health program for residents to complete their ‘bucket lists’.
“I don’t know why [I wanted to do it], I just thought ‘why not’,” Ms Cook told Nine News.
The initiative is being funded by a Mercy Health Foundation innovation grant awarded to its 22 aged care homes.
Four other residents, aged 70 to 82, also enjoyed a flight over the Yarra Valley in a vintage Tiger Moth plane.
Lifestyle and Volunteer Manager Karren Gooding said the program is designed to help residents think of residential aged care as the next stage of their journey.
“We’re not just focused on big ticket items either: it could be as simple as taking a resident fishing, to the MCG for a football game or going on a ferry,” she says.
The skydiving and flying activities were the first to be created for the quarterly program. Next up for the residents – a ride in a V8 Super Car in June.
