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Housing biggest issue for seniors: ACOA

Last Updated Nov 15, 2017 at 5:34 am MDT

PHOTO. RMWB Jubilee Centre. Sarah Anderson. REPORTER.

Newly elected Mayor Don Scott and council met on Tuesday, Nov. 14 for their first city council meeting at Jubilee Plaza and heard a presentation  from the Advisory Committee on Aging (ACOA) on the findings from their age friendly needs assessment conducted earlier this year.

The assessment focused on eight domains of community life set out by the World Health Organizations checklist of essential features and identified several issues for seniors in the region.

“Age friendly is not about ticking off boxes in a list, it is a way of thinking and considering at every living of aging citizens,” said Lynda Mywaart.

The assessment identified housing as the greatest issue for seniors in the region with community support and health services and communication as significant issues for rural seniors and communication civic participation and employment for urban seniors.

The ACOA recommended that council prioritize age-friendliness as part of the strategic plan, develop a work plan to address the findings of the assessment and speak with Alberta Seniors Housing about the plans for the Aging in in Place segment of Willow Square.

Moving forward the ACOA will continue community engagements to create awareness of the value and importance of being an age‐friendly region, work with RMWB senior leadership and highlight the age‐friendly successes within the RMWB on the WHO website.

Councillors Mike Allen, Verna Murphy, Krista Balsom, Phil Mearger and Jane Stroud all thanked Mywaart and Pam Burns for the presentation and commitment to improving life for seniors in the region. Jane Stroud, Ward 4 councillor, was very passionate about seeing the recommendations be made, adding to the improvements needed for the rural communities such as roads and infrastructure.