Economic Sustainability of Age-Friendly Communities

Economic Sustainability of Age-Friendly
Communities
CURA Postdoctoral Fellow John Spina is exploring the relationship
between the age-friendliness of a community and its long-term
economic sustainability. Telephone interviews are being conducted
with older adults and key stakeholders (e.g., Mayors, Economic
Development Officers) in 3 Manitoba age-friendly communities:
Carman, Gimli, and Winkler.
The survey asks questions about areas such as housing,
transportation, community supports, and health services. In
talking with participants that have lived in these communities
for various lengths of time, older adults will be given a chance to
discuss their community and how features of their community
impact their lives. The study will also provide key stakeholders’
insights into the needs of older adults and how meeting those
needs may promote the sustainability of communities.
July 2011, Issue 20
Principal Investigator
Verena Menec, Community Health
Sciences, University of Manitoba
Community Lead
Patti Chiappetta, Manitoba Seniors
and Healthy Aging Secretariat
Co-Investigators
Judy Chipperfield, Psychology,
University of Manitoba
John Everitt, Geography, Brandon
University
Bonnie Hallman, Environment &
Geography, University of Manitoba
Richard Milgrom, City Planning,
University of Manitoba
Frances Racher, School of Health
Studies, Brandon University
Elizabeth Ready, Kinesiology &
Recreation Management, University
of Manitoba
Alexander Segall, Sociology,
University of Manitoba
Laura Taylor, Social Work, University
of Manitoba
Students
Senior Centre Without Walls Feedback Study
CURA Postdoctoral Fellow Nancy Newall is working with Age &
Opportunity to do a feedback study on their Senior Centre Without
Walls program. This program offers Manitobans age 55+ the
opportunity to participate in programming on a variety of topics
(e.g., book clubs, current events, special celebrations, health
information, etc.) over the telephone free of charge. Nancy will be
interviewing participants to obtain their feedback on the program.
Sheri Bell
Laura Rempel
Jennifer Chen
Jennifer McArthur
Lucelia Melo
Jody Reimer
Sheila Novek
Wyeth Krauchi
Postdoctoral Fellows
Nancy Newall
Nadine Nowatzki
John Spina
Collaborators
Frances Kuo, Natural Resources &
Environmental Sciences, University
of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Amanda Macrae, Age & Opportunity
Inc.
Age-Friendly Week
The first Age-Friendly Week was held May 30th – June 3rd. A
variety of activities and events, organized by the Seniors & Healthy
Aging Secretariat, took place throughout the week.
Working closely with the Public
Health Agency of Canada (PHAC),
the province of Manitoba has
developed five milestones for
what it means to be an agefriendly community. These
milestones were formally
announced during Age-Friendly
Week on May 30th at the Legislative Building. Portage la Prairie,
the first Manitoba community to become part of the age-friendly
initiative in 2008, was presented with Manitoba’s first AgeFriendly Award for meeting the milestone requirements.
The Age-Friendly Milestones include:
1. Establishing an Age-Friendly Committee that includes active
engagement of older adults
2. Securing a local municipal council resolution to actively
support, promote, and work towards becoming age-friendly
3. Establishing a concrete action plan that includes a community
consultation developed with older adults
4. Demonstrating commitment to action by publicly posting the
action plan
5. Committing to measuring activities and reporting publicly on
action plan outcomes
Following the presentation of this award, a number of
organizations including the Centre on Aging (Dr. Verena Menec)
signed the newly created Age-Friendly Manitoba Charter. This
document includes associations that are committed to help
position our province as an age-friendly leader and assist in the
development of communities that allow older Manitobans to lead
active, engaged, and independent lives.
Other announcements made this week included:
Louise Plouffe, Division of Aging
and Seniors, Government of Canada
Kimberly Weihs, Manitoba Society
of Seniors
Marjorie Wood, Creative Retirement
Manitoba
Community Liaison
Louise Hutton, University of
Manitoba
Partners
Active Living Coalition for Older
Adults (ALCOA)
Age & Opportunity Centres, Inc.
Assiniboine Regional Health
Authority
Brandon Regional Health Authority
Creative Retirement Manitoba
Division of Aging & Seniors, Public
Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)
Federal Superannuates National
Association (FSNA)
Manitoba Association of Senior
Centres (MASC)
Manitoba Council on Aging
Manitoba Seniors and Healthy Aging
Secretariat
www.gov.mb.ca/shas/agefriendly
Manitoba Society of Seniors Inc.
NOR-MAN Regional Health Authority
Rural Development Institute
South Eastman Health
Winnipeg Regional Health Authority
(WRHA)
Winnipeg in motion
World Health Organization (WHO)
Newsletter editor contact
information
Dawn Veselyuk
Project Coordinator
Phone: 474-6583
Fax: 474-7576
Email: [email protected]
•
property tax credits for seniors,
Editorial assistant: Rachel Ines
•
tax credits for caregivers,
•
seniors housing proposals, and
•
the introduction of an Age-Friendly Intergenerational Initiative
that will see a provincial coordinator work with teachers and
community leaders to promote positive intergenerational
relationships.
Age-Friendly CURA is funded by
the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada
(SSHRC)
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www.umanitoba.ca/centres/aging/cura
July 2011, Issue 20
CURA Age-Friendly Research
Forum
The CURA team held its third annual AgeFriendly Research Forum on June 17th at Good
Neighbours Active Living Centre in Winnipeg.
The morning session, which was open to the
public, was well attended by approximately
40 people including team members, partner
organizations, regional health authorities, and
various senior –serving and other organizations.
•
Former CURA Postdoctoral Fellow, Toni
Morris-Oswald, and former students, Becky
Raddatz and Stacy Boone, each presented as
part of a panel presentation highlighting how
their experiences on the age-friendly team
impact their current work.
◦
Toni is a Disaster Management Specialist
with Manitoba Health. Her work on
the CURA project helped her to better
understand the capacities and challenges
faced by older adults. It also provided
her with the opportunity to work on
an interdisciplinary team, learn about
evidence-based approaches to health, and
facilitate a variety of focus groups, all of
which are valuable skills that are part of
her current work.
◦
Becky was a student on the CURA team
during the completion of her Master’s
thesis on aging issues and city planning. It
was because of her involvement with the
age-friendly CURA that she was asked to
facilitate round table discussions with the
City of Winnipeg’s ‘Speak up Winnipeg’
project. During these groups, and in her
current role with the city’s Water & Waste
Department, she has come to realize that
age-friendly dimensions are found in all
aspects of municipal services.
◦
Stacy noted how her networking skills
improved greatly following her work
on the CURA project. As a Community
Facilitator with the Winnipeg Regional
Health Authority (WRHA), she has many
opportunities to educate people about
age-friendly communities. Since her work
on the CURA team, she has changed her
lens to one that is more ‘age-friendly’ and
tries to keep this in mind when assessing
Continued on p.4
community needs.
It featured presentations by current and
past team members who talked about their
involvement with age-friendly communities.
•
Patti Chiappetta (Manitoba Seniors &
Healthy Aging Secretariat) gave an overview
of the Age-Friendly Manitoba Initiative
that was launched in 2008. The importance
of partnerships and interconnectedness
in creating age-friendly communities was
emphasized. Patti reviewed some of the
newer resource development initiatives
including the: Age-Friendly Milestones,
Resource Team, and Web site. She also
presented highlights and pictures from the
province’s first Age-Friendly Week.
•
Verena Menec provided a brief overview
of what we have learned since the CURA
project first began in 2007. As she noted,
“a journey of a thousand miles begins with
a single step” (Lao Tzu). Four years since
it was launched, the CURA has completed
12 research projects, 56 community
consultations, and engaged a number of
students/trainees at all levels of study. An
important finding learned over the years
is the fact that “one size doesn’t fit all”
– and the need to take into account
the diversity of seniors, as well as the
diversity of communities.
July 2011, Issue 20
www.umanitoba.ca/centres/aging/cura
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Forum attendees were also taken on a
tour of the newly renovated Bronx Park
Community Centre facility. Following the
morning sessions and lunch, the CURA
team had its annual team meeting. Around
20 team members were in attendance and
discussed possible end of project ideas as
the CURA prepares to enter its fifth and
final year.
Thank-you to all that attended and assisted
with making this event a success!
on
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Continued from p.3
The final presentation focused on agefriendly communities from a regional
perspective. Melissa Sitter is a Services to
Seniors Program Specialist, and Michelle
Knelsen is a Mental Health Community
Resource Coordinator. Both are employed
by the South Eastman Health Regional
Health Authority (RHA), a partner
organization on the CURA project.
Ensuring the region’s communities are
‘age-friendly’ is becoming important due
to growth and demographic changes in this
area. The presentation emphasized the
importance of older adults’ independence
and being able to offer various programs
and services to ensure seniors can live
as independently as possible in their
community. Many of the services and
programs offered through the RHA are in
line with the eight dimensions of an agefriendly community.
C
•
Master’s Defense: Sheila Novek
Congratulations to CURA student Sheila
Novek who successfully defended her Master’s
thesis in Community Health Sciences, Faculty
of Medicine, on June 27th. Sheila’s thesis,
entitled “Women, Migration and Care Work:
Filipino Health Care Aides in Canada”,
examined the high concentration of Filipino
health care aides working in Winnipeg’s
personal care homes from the perspectives
of health care aides and long-term care
administrators.
Student Updates
With the summer half over, the CURA team is
saying good-bye to a few of its students:
•
Sheri Bell joined the CURA team in spring
2010, and has also been working with the
Photovoice data. Sheri will be continuing
her studies at Dalhousie University this fall.
•
Jody Reimer has been assisting with
various age-friendly projects and tasks
during the recent summer months, and
will be pursuing her studies at Oxford
University in the United Kingdom.
Age-Friendly Communities Evaluation
This summer, the CURA team is interviewing
all 66 age-friendly communities to take stock of
where each community is at, and to determine
some of their challenges and visions for agefriendly. The goal is to conduct telephone
interviews with 2-3 people in each community.
Project Coordinator Dawn Veselyuk and
summer student Jennifer McArthur are
conducting the interviews.
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Thank-you again to both of you for your hard
work on the age-friendly project, and best of
luck in your future endeavors!
www.umanitoba.ca/centres/aging/cura
July 2011, Issue 20