With the number of seniors continually increasing and the baby boomers poised to retire en-masse, the 'greying of Australia' is a subject of constant discussion and analysis in the media, government and the community in general. The Town of "Vincent is currently conducting an assessment of what its residents think it ought to provide over the next 20 years and with its high and increasing number of senior residents , particular - emphasis is being given to determining the needs of that sector.Caring for Seniors in Town of Vincent. (WA.)
As part of this assessment the Town of Vincent has formed a Seniors Advisory Committee and has also commissioned a Senior Friendly Community Survey to ascertain the requirements and concerns of the town's senior population. Conducted by Professor Duncan Boldy from the Centre for Research into Aged Care at Curtin University of Technology crime prevention area and Jacinta Anthony, Community Development and Administrative Services Manager at the Town of Vincent, the survey identified the main areas of concern as being personal/home safety, followed by transport, attitudes towards seniors, physical access and home support.
Consisting of three of the council's elected members and chaired by the mayor, the Seniors Advisory committee also includes various community representatives, both residents and non residents.
Town of Vincent Mayor, Cr Nick Catania, told Have A Go News that the committee has been studying the results of the Senior Friendly Community Survey in order to seek solutions to the problems that the survey has highlighted.“Security has come up as number one on the survey, as you get older you are very conscious about security.” Mr Catania said. “The government recently gave us $11,000 to look at crime prevention programs through the town, and we are working with the police in the crime prevention area.
"For example, we are looking at providing mobile phones for seniors who don't have them so they can call for help in an emergency and feel a bit more secure."We are also looking at the lighting and planning of streets. A lot of the older areas have right-of-ways at the rear and lighting could well deter criminal activity”.
Mr Catania said that the survey showed that seniors were concerned about the attitude that younger people have towards them.
"Seniors felt that there was a lack of respect and some even felt threatened by younger people. So what we have got to do -not only the Town of Vincent, the community generally is to make sure that a culture develops of respect for the aged and, where it has been lost, we have to re-emerge it, rediscover it."
Access was also considered important by the respondents to the survey."We have to identify what we have to do to help people to walk from their homes to reach shops, and to cross busy streets," Mr Catania said. "It is alright for a young spritely person to cross a street, but a person who is not so fast - whose reflexes are not so quick - they need lights, they need cross-walks, they need more time, and they need under-passes and overpasses -all these planning options must be considered.
Many of the things which will assist seniors are simple but can be over-looked, Mr Catania said. "Things like footpaths which will not trip people- replacing slabs with concrete footpaths, reducing he height of kerbing so that people can cross roads without having difficulty getting over a kerb. All these things are sensitive things to seniors, as they are to the disabled."
The advisory committee will also be looking at transport and assisting seniors who do not drive a car to get to shops, doctors, dentists and other services.
"We already hire a community bus for entertainment to take people out on excursions. But that is easy to do - the difficult thing is to provide some permanent structure, so we are looking at free CAT services to link between the own and outside the town, to assist seniors with transport."Mr Catania said the Town of Vincent is examining a system currently operating in the US where local governments provide coupons for taxi and other travel. "It provides the flexibility to be able to go to places that we take for granted when we are younger, but may become more difficult as we get older."
The advisory committee also believes that keeping seniors active is of great importance. The Town of Vincent already organizes bus excursions, bridge, bingo and similar entertainment, but finding those who are isolated and encouraging them to participate is perceived as being much of the challenge.
"It is important that older people be introduced and re-introduced to activity," Mr Catania said. "I think we have to discover who our people are who are of a certain age and who are prisoners of their townhouse. We are fortunate in the Town of Vincent because we are perhaps small enough to be able to do that sort of thing and to offer them, for example, leisure activities, exercise and fun days".
Mr Catania said that the committee is beginning work on the areas identified as being the greatest priorities, particularly security and transport.
"It won't happen tomorrow, but I think all of these things will evolve over the next two years,” he said. "I am hoping, of course, that the state and federal governments come and take this road with us, because it will become more successful with their help."
By Paul Goldie. Source: Have A Go News Jan 2005