Group wants age-friendly city

While Canada’s highest percentage of senior citizens per capita make their home in Saskatchewan, activists say the country’s "oldest" province lags behind others in accommodating its aging population.

"We’re one of the only provinces in the country that does not have some kind of positive aging senior’s strategy," said Candace Skrapek, president of the Saskatoon Council on Aging (SCOA) and co-chair of the Age-Friendly Saskatoon initiative.

The SCOA wants to ensure the city develops into an "age-friendly" place to live, and a group of citizens is making a commitment to ensure the city has the appropriate support for its older population by asking seniors what they need via an open forum similar in nature to the ongoing Saskatoon Speaks initiative.

"We felt seniors themselves needed to be engaged," said Skrapek.

The Age-Friendly Saskatoon initiative includes seniors, organizations geared toward seniors, public officials, community leaders, business people and volunteers, who will participate in a series of discussions surrounding the idea of creating an "age-friendly" city.

Within 15 years, about 25 per cent of the province’s residents will be 65 or older. This demographic shifts comes as baby boomers enter their senior years.

The goal is to identify initiatives and programs working well for older adults as well as areas that must be addressed to improve supports for seniors as the population ages. The Age-Friendly Saskatoon steering committee will then propose an action plan to leaders and decision-makers.

"It’s very broad. It’s not just about health; it’s not just about the care of older adults," said Skrapek. Co-ordinators of the project aim to assist older adults who want to lead healthy, independent lives and remain active and socially engaged.

Though statistics support the need for policy to deal with the aging population, Skrapek said the government has been slow to respond to the change, choosing to focus resources only on the 10 per cent of seniors who need care.

"Really, when you look at the senior population, only about 10 per cent of older adults in Saskatoon require any kind of care," Skrapek said. "Although that’s a very important part . . . it really is just addressing a very small segment of the population."

The SCOA will divide the city into geographic areas and seek ideas and comments from a range of older adults throughout the city. It will conduct about 20 focus groups, the first of which was held last week following the official launch of the program. Focus groups will continue throughout the month of February.

Organizers have looked toward the World Health Organization’s (WHO) age-friendly city model, a document designed to address issues related to an increasing older population. According to the WHO, the global population of people 60 and older will reach 1.2 billion people by 2025.

Skrapek said "age friendly" really means "people friendly." For example, if a senior can push a walker down a snowy sidewalk, a parent with a stroller can also navigate that same sidewalk.

"The nice thing about an age-friendly community model is really that it’s age friendly for everyone," she said.

For more information, or to sign up to participate in a focus group, contact the SCOA at 652-2255 or visit www.scoa.ca.