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Senior Friendly™
Communities Process
The Senior
Friendly™ goal is to foster and support the
implementation of local Senior Friendly™
initiatives in rural and urban centers
across the province. We offer
practical tools that a community can use and
adapt to assist in serving and welcoming an
aging population.
It's no secret
that the Senior population, in this country
and around the world, is growing and
changing. The demographic profile of
our communities are quickly changing; close
to one in six Albertans is now 65 years of
age or over, and the number of Seniors
continues to grow.
The aging
population has implications for almost all
aspects of society policy and private and
non-profit business service practice.
In short, the aging of the population
dictates the need for changes in the role of
Seniors in the community and the
improvements in their interactions with
business and service providers.
Seniors share a
common desire to maintain their
independence; which in turn, contributes
significantly to their overall sense of
health and well-being. Indeed, many
Seniors' sense of health and well-being
remains strongly linked to their ability to
age in place; living and functioning
independently within their home and
community. To maintain their
independence Seniors require access to a
broad array of community supports and
services. With this in mind, it is
critical that service providers, business
and government provide services that are
user friendly to Seniors. This means
everything from ensuring that service
locations are physically accessible, to
considering the specific unique nature of
Seniors' service needs. The Senior
Friendly™ resources have compiled numerous
recommendations from studies and reports on
Seniors' independence into a user-friendly
format that can be used by any enterprise.
It is essential
that Seniors can access the supports that
they need in a timely and appropriate
manner. Public services, community
programs and private sector business must,
if they are to successfully serve Seniors,
tailor their programs and services to better
meet the needs of an aging population.
Senior Friendly™
will help give a greater understanding of
Seniors and bring an enhanced sensitivity to
the challenges Seniors face in accessing
programs and services in their community.
It also creates loyal, repeat customers that
insure repeat business.
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Steps to
Becoming a Senior Friendly™ Community
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Initiation
of the project
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Development
of a Senior Friendly™ Committee
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Community
self assessment
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Analyze
results, set goals and create an Action
Plan
-
ACA review
of the Community Action Plan
-
Implementation of the Community Action
Plan
-
Train
instructors and individual organizations
-
Check-up of
municipal facilities and individual
organizations
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Ongoing
Committee objectives
-
Designation
as a Senior Friendly™ Community
-
Annual
Check-up and review
*NB all of these
steps must be completed and approved by ACA,
but can be completed in an order that is
suitable for each individual community.
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Initiation of the project
When a community
(municipality, town or city) expresses
interest in becoming a Senior Friendly™
community, Alberta Council on Aging will
make a presentation to interested parties in
that community. It is recommended that
this would involve members of the municipal
government and/or regional governments,
other Senior serving organizations like FCSS,
Senior centres, Chamber of Commerce, local
businesses and representatives of the
community's Seniors. ACA will present
detailed information about ACA and the
Senior Friendly™ Program including resources
that are available, the business designation
process, an the process for becoming a
Senior Friendly™ Community as well as the
benefits to everyone involved.
Below are
explanations and suggestions as to how these
steps might be undertaken. Senior
involvement is important in each step of the
process.
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Development
of a Senior Friendly™ Committee
It is
recommended that a Senior Friendly™ Steering
Committee be formed. This can be a
separate committee or a sub-committee of an
existing community committee. The
committee should have representation from
Senior service agencies, non-profit
organizations, and groups such as Senior
centres, professionals including doctors,
dentists and public health, private sector
business and government. The committee
will develop and implement all stages of the
Senior Friendly™ Program; meetings should be
held on a as needed basis.
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Community
self assessment
A survey will be
done of the community that accesses the
services offered to Seniors, infrastructure,
the accessibility of those services and will
outline the overall strengths and
shortcomings of the community in regards to
Seniors. It will address the current
needs as well as the foreseeable needs
of the future.
The evaluation
should survey individuals as well as Senior
serving organizations, non-profit
organizations and groups, churches,
professionals, private sector business and
government.
The survey can
be distributed through public focus groups,
special meetings, regular gatherings,
individual contact with people such as
accessing Seniors' housing or tables at the
mall. Those surveyed should include
individuals from all sectors, incomes, and
involvement levels as well as Seniors
who are more isolates or are marginalized
and of varied ethic backgrounds.
A sample survey
will be provided which may be added to or
amended to suit the dynamics of the
community. A previous survey can be
used if it was completed recently and
addresses the questions in the sample
survey.
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Analyze
results, set goals and create an Action
Plan
The data from
the survey will be compiled from the survey
and analyzed. A Community Action Plan
will be created by the Senior Friendly™
Committee that identifies the community's
priorities toward becoming a Senior
Friendly™ Community. A template can be
supplied by ACA and assistance provided in
competing it. This plan will be a
working document that will be revised and
modified on a regular basis an reviewed by
ACA. The plan will include at least
the following, but may be revised as deemed
appropriate:
-
overview of
the board needs of the community, both
strengths and weaknesses;
-
list goals
as to the types of changes that are to
be made within the community including
accessibility, infrastructure, and
services;
-
identify
timeframes as to long and short term
plans;
-
identify how
these goals can be met;
-
long and
short term financial considerations;
-
set target
numbers of Senior serving agencies and
businesses that will be involved in the
Senior Friendly™ designation process.
This will include private business
sector, health care, municipal,
provincial and federal government
service agencies, and community service
agencies such as libraries, FCSS;
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letters of
support from these agencies committing
to the project;
-
appropriate
timeframe for achievement for all of the
goals above.
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ACA review
of the Community Action Plan
Upon completion
of the Community Action Plan, it is to be
submitted to ACA for review. Upon
examination, there will be approval of the
plan or recommendations of revisions an
consultation to make the changes.
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Implementation of the Community Action
Plan
The community
will begin implementation of the goals as
outlined in the Action Plan. This
process will be supported by ACA through
consultation. ACA will administer
certification and recognition fro individual
businesses and groups, assist with pulic
relations activities and affirmations and
provide Senior Friendly™ logos and visual
identity tools.
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Train
instructors and individual organizations
ACA will train a
number of Senior Friendly™ certified
instructors within a community for an agreed
upon fee. This fee includes the
training manuals and training kit.
These instructors are generally volunteers,
but may be from community service agencies
such as FCSS or Town Councilors. These
instructors will then train employees,
service providers, professionals, private
sector businesses etc. within the community.
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Check-up of
municipal facilities and individual
organizations
Municipal
offices/buildings will be subject to a
Senior Friendly™ Check-up and an Action Plan
will be created for each individual
facility.
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Ongoing
Committee objectives
Momentum for
designation of a Senior Friendly™ Community
must be maintained throughout the project.
This can be achieved by ongoing advertising,
reports to the community on the progress and
work of the Committee and celebrations of
the milestones achieved.
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Designation
as a Senior Friendly™ Community
Upon completion
of the Community Action Plan, ACA will
review the status of the plan, noting long
term objectives and goals that have been
achieved. If the Action is progressing
satisfactorily the community will obtain its
Senior Friendly™ Community Status.
License agreements will be signed for the
use of the Senior Friendly™ trademark and
the community is then able to publicize
itself as a Senior Friendly™ Community.
ACA will be involved in the marketing and
celebration of the achievement and will
publicize it in the ACA News.
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Annual
Check-up and review
Annually, ACA
will review and access the community Action
Plan and ensure that agencies trained are
maintaining a sufficient number of trained
employees and volunteers. An
additional community self assessment may be
done to establish if the changes are meeting
the needs of the Seniors in the community.
For more
information on the Senior Friendly™ Program,
please click the Contact Us link above!
Be Senior
Friendly™, you'll meet some amazing people
and tap a great resource!
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