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 In
December, 2001, Ms Madeliene Scicluna, Community
Development Officer with Darebin Council and Maltese
Community Educator with the Royal Children's Hospital,
approached Reskeon Seniors Group inviting them to take
part in a project on "Safety in the Home".
Reskeon Seniors is a large group in the northern suburbs
looking after Maltese-speaking older persons with around
300 members. They meet at Merrilands Community Centre
every Wednesday.
Ms Scicluna approached John Gauci, then Co-ordinator of
the group, and Paul Vella, secretary, and invited them to
take part in a project on "Safety in the Home for Older
Persons", with "falls" being the main topic. Later on,
George Colvin, the new Co-ordinator of the group helped as
well.
A
group of about 14 members was formed and had the first
meeting on February 7, the very first meeting for the year
for Reskeon Seniors Group.
They discussed safety among the senior citizens and each
member of the group came up with ideas of how to avoid
accidents around the home.
 They decided that part of the project should be a video to
show how to avoid these and how to make our homes more
safer.
The shooting started on Wednesday, February 28, with
scenes being shot at Merrilands Community Centre, at
members' homes, and other places. The complete video was
ready by the following Monday, thanks to the hard work of
Ms Scicluna and Ms Maryam Dodds who was in charge of the
video filming, editing and the finished product.
The launching of the video was held at Merrilands
Community Centre, on Thursday, March 7, where around 40
members from various groups of the community attended.
Among those present were Mr Emmanuel Brincat, the Convenor
of Community Radio 3ZZZ; Mr Joe Sacco, Public Relations
Officer of the Maltese Community Council of Victoria; and
Mr Charles Spiteri, Secretary of the Lalor Bocci Social
Club.
Attending as well, were Mr Rodrick McIvor, Manager,
Community Planning and Advocacy Unit, Darebin City
Council; Ms Barbara Minuzzo, Co-Ordinator, SAFE Programme,
Safety Centre of the Royal Children's Hospital; Ms Creina
Porter, Centre for Community Child Health at the Royal
Children's Hospital; and Ms Sharyn Scott, Community Safety
Officer, Darebin City Council.
The short video, showing how to avoid accidents and do's
and don'ts around the home, was shown to those present and
was well received.
 The video, which was funded by the Department of Human
Services will make people more aware of how to avoid
accidents, especially falls, which cause around 1000
deaths yearly in people over 65, and another 50,000 being
admitted to hospital after such falls.
We would like to thank Ms Madeliene Scicluna for making
such a project happen. It was an honour for us to produce
such a video in the Maltese language, even though, with
the use of the English subtitles, it can be viewed by
anyon.
A copy of the video will be place in the library of the
Maltese Community Council of Victoria to be borrowed by
anyone interested.
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