March 18, 2018 – Tyler Kula , Sarnia Observer – A plan to make Sarnia more age-friendly is kicking into gear, the city’s accessibility coordinator says, with a $100,000 provincial investment.
More than 70 volunteers have been working behind the scenes on initiatives since the city’s age-friendly action plan was approved last year, said Dale Mosley, with the City of Sarnia.
Those initiatives include web and print resources to help people understand different transportation options, and a tiered exercise program to help people stay healthy and in their homes as they age.
“The whole idea of this is to keep people in their house, in their home, to keep people healthy and out of emergency rooms as they age,” Mosley said. “We’re not necessarily talking seniors; we’re talking everybody that would need this type of program.”
The recently announced grant, $99,800 from Ontario’s Ministry of Seniors Affairs, should speed things up, he said.
The money could also go towards an age-friendly summit likely in November, he said, and hiring a part-time coordinator to spearhead implementation.
The action plan focuses on housing, transportation, social participation, outdoor spaces and buildings, communication and information, respect and social inclusion, community support and health services, and civic participation and employment.
“The whole point of age friendly is to keep those things in peoples’ lives so their health doesn’t decline,” Mosley said.
In late 2014, the Ontario Seniors’ Secretariat provided $36,000 to the City of Sarnia to fund the creation of the city’s age-friendly action plan.
Some of the initiatives involve partnering with the Canadian Centre of Activity and Aging and Lambton Public Health, Mosley said.
“There’s a lot of things related to health, a lot of things related to social interaction that are out there already,” Mosley said.
Plans are to forge partnerships and make those services more apparent and easily accessible, he said.
“A lot of people don’t know where they are on that scale of finding housing for grandpa, or finding housing for dad, or themselves,” he said, as an example.
The city is also striving to be part of the World Health Organization Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities.
Mosley said he submitted an application last July, but has yet to hear back.
He noted the importance of volunteers in the project.
“Without these volunteers, we wouldn’t be able to do it,” he said.
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