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Local Hero Award
Thursday, 6 October 2022
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John Kelman (OKG77), founder of the Cycling Without Age (CWA) Sydney North chapter, was named the 2022 Westfield Local Hero for Chatswood last month. An international movement, CWA was started in Copenhagen ten years ago, with the simple philosophy of improving the quality of life and social integration of aged care residents with the help of a trishaw. John first heard about the movement approximately four years ago through the cycling grapevine. “My mum, in her late 80s, was living in her own home, but some of her friends were in aged care. I thought CWA was a great idea, but I didn’t pursue it at the time. When my mum moved to aged care (2019), the home we found was great, but there was nothing like that [the CWA program]. I thought the home might be interested, and my mum would enjoy being taken out for a ride.” “However a few things intervened, and then my mum passed away a month before COVID hit.” The idea of CWA stayed with John. “I got in touch with Adrian Boss OAM, the tireless champion of CWA in Sydney. He trained me as a ‘pilot’ and I started doing the occasional ride for his chapter.” Around that time, Adrian was contacted by Baptist Care to run a pilot in Macquarie Park. Being a local, John became involved with the rides one day a month. Soon, John and his fellow Bike North volunteers realised a local chapter was needed. “There being no one else around, that fell to me. I started to organise the resources we needed. Of course, the big one is a trishaw which is imported and costs $17,000.” Through taking rides from Baptist Care, John got to know the home’s Lifestyle Co-ordinator, Julie Hill. “A wonderful lady with a lot of energy, she found out about the Westfield award and nominated me. She was also a huge support in terms of encouraging votes through social media.” Before the Westfield announcement, John’s chapter (who were borrowing a trishaw) had secured a local council grant and funds from Rotary. The injection of funding from Westfield means CWA now has one trishaw fully funded. “With our own trishaw, we can set up our own ride program, which will only be limited by the volunteers and their time. We’ll also have enough to have a trailer built that can carry two trishaws. The award is incredibly significant in that it gives us this huge step forward.” Next on the agenda is running trishaws in events, including the Sydney Spring Cycle on 16 October. John hopes the events will help to raise awareness of CWA and in time, enable his chapter to broaden the services offered. “The CWA rides are offered as a chance to have a look around and talk with passengers, rather than as a transport service. It doesn’t have to be in the aged care home context. We want to broaden out to disability care, less well-resourced care homes, and I would also really like to expand into beautiful riding locations for the passengers to enjoy.” “I got into this from cycling, but I’ve realised this is really about building relationships and allowing people who are often quite isolated to reconnect… it’s been quite an education. At first, I was almost intimidated, unsure about helping people to talk. But it has been a real joy and very rewarding.” John tells the story of one man in his mid-90s, a tall, gentle and kind fellow with dementia whom he came to know on a few rides. “His teenage grandson came along on the last ride. He was obviously fond of his granddad, and learning to manage the dementia... The gentleman passed away about a month later, but we received wonderful feedback from his family... That experience was very significant to me.” John whose main career has been in IT, says the CWA experience is helping to resolve his discomfort with ageing and aged care. “This has allowed me to see that ageing can be positive, not only for those ageing, but also the community around them.” John acknowledges Adrian as his constant inspiration. “He has been a tremendous support and mentor to me. His OAM was awarded for his work in this area, and it was so well deserved.” Learn more: Watch the TEDx talk by CWA Founder, Ole Kassow on YouTube John also recommends The Grey Escape (view teaser on Vimeo), an inspirational short film about a group of elderly people cycling 380 km from Denmark to Norway. “It’s an example of how this can work in a country where there is more openness and better infrastructure for cycling. They took a large caravan of trishaws, passengers and carers on a 10-day journey. It was an adventure holiday for people who expected never to do much outside their care home ever again”. Image supplied Date posted: 7 October 2022 |