<< Background >>Climate change has resulted in an increase, frequency, and severity of heatwaves. In 2003 70.000 deaths were reported in 12 EU countries and in 2015 the deadliest disaster in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, was a summer heatwave causing 2,500 deaths. Furthermore, if high temperatures continue for consecutive 6 days, the negative impact on mortality is 1.5 to 5 more detrimental than shorter events. One of the reasons this is an issue is due to an increasing rate of mortality and morbidity among older adults during extreme summer heat. At the same time, the aging population in Europe is increasing and the older adults stay living longer at their own homes. In 2020, 20.6 % of the EU population was aged 65+, and the share of people aged 80+ years is projected to increase from 5.9 % to 14.6 % between 2020 and 2100. The effect of the heatwaves displays an increasing trend in all project consortium countries and generally across Europe. Being aware of this problem, the EU member states have developed different methods and projects, but mostly in the physical and construction sectors. In most cases heat warning systems have been created and the way buildings are constructed has been modified. However, a social emphasis in our response to the heatwaves is needed too, since these affect people’s daily life and sense of wellbeing and security. Yet, social/health/care educations and sectors have hardly been involved in developing strategies on how to deal with this issue. They are therefore not sufficiently prepared and equipped to counter extreme thermal conditions to prevent and decrease mortality and morbidity. Since the health consequences of the climate change are already visible, these sectors need to play an active role in the solution delivery. It is therefore important to adopt a sustainable approach to counter this issue by developing (practical) education on the topic, training formal, informal and volunteer caregivers, and supporting social and care organisations in adapting strategies and tools on how to support older adults during the heatwaves. These efforts will also enhance collaborations and exchange of knowledge and experiences between stakeholders in different countries to address the problem at local, regional, national, and European levels.<< Objectives >>The project HOPE (Responding to Heatwaves in the Older People Ecosystem) aims to put the severe health threats of heatwaves on the agenda of the older adult service and healthcare sectors and to have an inclusive approach for the whole ecosystem by: (1) Developing and strengthening competences of students, informal caregivers, and professionals in older adult health, care and social sectors on better responding to the needs of older adults during heatwaves and thereby better mitigating the risks. An innovative teaching-tool for students and formal/informal caregivers will be developed and implemented. This tool will be innovative, attractive, and practical to use. The international component will be appealing to the learners, since it provides a broader scope of options on how to deal with heat-problems in times of heatwaves in vulnerable older adults. Increased skills will therefore contribute to better care for older people. In other words: there is a goal with respect to the content (improving prevention and care for older people in times of heatwaves), and a goal with respect to the methods used (continuous international learning and finetuning of the e-learning). (2) Supporting and stimulating organisations in the older adults ecosystem to apply guidelines and best practices regarding care during heatwaves. The Guidelines for Ecosystems and the Database of Good Practices will be developed in collaboration with associated partners, older adults and caregivers, and implemented in organisations connected to the project. Through these tools, organisations will be able to increase their response capacity in case of heatwaves and will become faster and make better-informed decisions. By increasing the expertise of organisations and thereby their staff too, older adults will also learn how to mitigate the impact of heatwaves. This will increase their confidence to manage their own health and wellbeing, and thereby reduce hospitalizations and mortality rates. (3) Supporting local and regional authorities through developed Policy Recommendations on how to play a role in the fight against heat risks for their older inhabitants. The recommendations will be translated into the local languages of project partners and implemented by municipalities connected to the project. (4) By communicating and disseminating project results and best practices on local, regional, national, European, and international levels, the aims is to develop an integrated approach to be further adopted by other organisations and authorities, decreasing the morbidity and mortality rate and improving the care provided through collaboration, new policies and approaches, knowledge exchange and change management.<< Implementation >>The project consists of 5 phases and each will have following activities: 1.Research phase- Organising and executing research activities: Literature review, collecting good practices, meetings, interviews and visits with Local Advisory Boards and older adults focus groups in Rotterdam, Treviso and Amadora. - Transnational project meetings in Rotterdam, Treviso and Amadora- Preparing tools and collecting materials and information for the e-learning, MOOC, Guidelines for Ecosystem and Database of Good Practices.- Monthly online progress and budget meetings- 3 transnational project meetings- 2 online Local Advisory Board meetings2. Development phase- Analysing and converting collected materials and research- Methodologically developing the project results (courses, guidelines, database)- Monthly online progress and budget meetings- 1 transnational project meeting- 2 online Local Advisory Board meetings3. Test phase- Validating and testing the project results with main target groups, Local Advisory Boards and associated partners - Monthly online progress and budget meetings- 1 transnational project meeting- 2 online Local Advisory Board meetings4. Implementation phase- The e-learning course is added to the course catalogue and ready to be elected by students- MOOC is implemented on MOODLE and available - Guidelines for ecosystems are shared with the (associated) partners and ready to be applied- Database of Good Practices is finalized on the project website and available for stakeholders- Policy Recommendations are finalized and shared across partners and stakeholders- All developed project results are disseminated and shared across our stakeholders, networks and partners.- Application of the products is monitored and any errors or set-backs are corrected. - Monthly online progress and budget meetings - 1 transnational project meeting- 2 online Local Advisory Board meetings5. Finalization- All project results are evaluated and disseminated- The 4 national and the international end multiplier events are held- 1 transnational project meeting<< Results >>Based on the project objectives, we will develop 8 project results (PR): 1st objective: Developing and strengthening competences of students, informal caregivers, and professionals in older adults health/care/social sectors on better responding to the needs of older adults during heatwaves, will be reached by implementing: - PR 1&2. An e-learning course for the students at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences as part of a minor degree and as an elective course. The objective is to teach students how to manage the care around the older adults during heatwaves and how to empower them to better manage the heat themselves. Through our network and Erasmus+ channels we are also aiming to share the course with other relevant educational institutions. Furthermore, course will be ‘living’ tools, that will be updated constantly, using new insights from various fields related to heatwave management and response. - PR 3&4. A free MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) aimed for formal and informal caregivers in the older adults care system. The objective of the course is the same as for the e-learning for students. This course will be available worldwide and will be accessible via an open source platform. 2nd objective: Supporting and stimulating organisations in the older adults ecosystem to apply strategies and best practices regarding care during heatwaves, will be reached by implementing: - PR 5&6. Guidelines on how to manage the older adults care before, during and after the heatwaves. Together with our (associated) partners, we will collect the best practices, collect information, and research the ecosystem on what is currently done in heatwave management, what is missing and works well. Based on these findings we will develop a set of guidelines for the organisations in the older adults ecosystem to use and implement. - PR 7. Based on the work of all project partners and the information gathered, we will develop an online Database of Good Practices around older adults care during the heatwaves, which will be shared worldwide and actively within the ELISAN network. 3rd objective: Supporting local and regional authorities on how to play a role in the fight against heat risks for their older inhabitants, will be reached by implementing:- PR 8. Policy Recommendations will be developed based on the information gathered during the project and shared on local, regional, national, and international level. This way we will put the most urgent health threat of climate change, heat, on the agenda in the networks of professionals and organizations focusing on ageing in place. The recommendations will specially pay attention to the importance of strengthening the knowledge and skills of caregivers. The recommendations will guide the authorities and organizations on how to support informal caregivers. They will also stimulate care organisations to empower their clients (older adults) on how to manage the heat themselves.4th objective: Collectively through communicating and disseminating of all of the 8 project results on local, regional, national, European, and international levels, the last project objective will be met.