City working towards ‘Age Friendly’ initiatives

Wuschenny said their presentation follows a workshop approach, giving participants time to identify local issues, and a list of steps to follow to fix them.

He said their initiative helps people of all age groups, not just seniors.

“If we want to improve the community in any way, then age friendly is very important because if it’s age friendly for older persons, then it’s age friendly for all generations,” he said.

In attendance were people from the health region, recreation, the Prince Albert Seniors’ Advocacy Centre, various nursing homes, City Hall-including Mayor Greg Dionne-and of course concerned citizens.

Wuschenny said their group also believes that an age friendly community includes a strong awareness of elder abuse, along with age friendly programs that are inclusive and seniors can have a voice in.

“It prevents senior isolation, abuse and those sorts of things,” he explained. “I think there’s more of an awareness now of those sorts of issues and the importance of being an age friendly community.”

Rosemary Flaman, program coordinator with Saskatchewan Seniors Mechanism, said part of the program is looking at the community through someone else’s eyes in order to notice possible obstacles.

“A lot of times people aren’t aware in their everyday life,” said Flaman. “You go through doorways, or whatever, and you go in and out easily and people don’t think about other people, like an older adult, or it can be a mom with young kids, and the doors are heavy.

“Or maybe they’re visually impaired, so signage can be a big thing, or street signs that people can read well enough in advance, or lighting.”

“It’s really looking at it through someone else’s lenses,” said Wuschenny.

Wuschenny said Age Friendly is a world-wide movement, which started as a recommendation by the World Health Organization. In the past few years, over 60 countries have been given the age friendly designation because of their practises.

“Even here in Canada, a lot of the other provinces are quite a bit ahead of us,” said Wuschenny. “We’ve only just begun in Saskatchewan.”

Ahead of Prince Albert, the cities of Regina, Saskatoon and Moose Jaw have already looked into some of these solutions.

John Guenther, director of city planning for the City of Prince Albert, said he noticed transportation was a big concern for people, along with safety and a lack of recreational activities for different age groups.

He said the city will benefit greatly from becoming age friendly.

“It’s an economic driver, it’s a social driver and it’s an environmental driver,” Guenther said. “It’s actually one of those things that encourages people to move to a city and do business in a city.

One issue brought up repeatedly at the meeting was transportation, with no city buses running during evenings or weekends.

“But that’s not just seniors, there’s a lot of other people who don’t have a car. That’s one of the things we’re reviewing as a city,” he said.

The Prince Albert Seniors’ Advocacy Centre hosted the event. Centre founder John Fryters’ goal is to have Prince Albert get both the Age Friendly and elder-abuse free designations.

Fryters said his second goal is to resurrect a council on aging in the city.

“The aging population in Prince Albert by the year 2028 will be over 25 per cent of the overall population,” he explained. “So more than a quarter of the population is going to be over the age of 65.”

Fryters said Prince Albert’s senior population could be even higher than those estimations, with many local housing projects targeting seniors.

“It’s not just housing, but it’s transportation, it’s accessibility, it’s making buildings sound better because people have hearing loss,” said Fryters. “Ramps, elevators, spaces: outdoor spaces, indoor spaces that are not accessible, not age friendly.

“All this development, but still, there is a shortage.”

asoloducha@panow.com

On Twitter: @alex_soloducha

by Alex Soloducha

City working towards ‘Age Friendly’ initiatives

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