Two weeks left to checkout Warm Safe exhibition

A community driven exhibition seeking to raise awareness and taking a stand against elder abuse ends in less than two weeks.

The Warm Safe Home exhibition in Geelong is displaying 1000 paper houses made by artists, seniors, children and other community members.
Councillor Sarah Mansfield, Chair of the Community Health and Aged Care portfolio, said the exhibition was a fantastic way to start the conversation and raise awareness around elder abuse.

“It’s been a difficult year for all, and unfortunately there’s been an increase in older people impacted by family violence,” Cr Mansfield said.

“Everyone has the right to feel safe and live free from fear, especially within their own home,

“By asking the community to showcase their idea of what a warm safe home looks like, we’ve created an opportunity to raise awareness about elder abuse, its causes, and the things that can be done to prevent it.”

The exhibition highlights the importance of the rights of the elderly to be protected from physical, social, financial, psychological, and sexual abuse, neglect or mistreatment.

Elder abuse is defined as any act which causes harm to an older person and is carried out by someone they know and trust such as a family member or friend.

The abuse may be physical, social, financial, psychological or sexual and can include mistreatment and neglect.

The City partnered with the Barwon Elder Abuse Primary Prevention Network to fund the project through Seniors Month in October and Geelong Regional Library Corporation to host the exhibition.

Warm Safe Home craft kits were distributed throughout Seniors Month.

The free kits were sent to anyone participating in the project, seniors’ groups, Men’s Sheds, Neighbourhood Houses, craft makers and artists.

The decorated paper houses have been on display at the Geelong Library & Heritage Centre since 10 December and will be exhibited until 7 January.