The University of Manitoba's School of Social Work in Thompson has partnered with senior citizens in the community to take a look at just how age-friendly Thompson really is.
The Age-Friendly Communities Research Alliance (AFCR) is a five- year research program funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada under its Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) funding program, with which the University of Manitoba's Centre on Aging is a part of.
The World Health Organization (WHO) states that an age-friendly community provides support and opportunities in areas such as outdoor spaces and buildings; transportation; housing; respect and inclusion; social participation; civic participation and employment; communication and information; and community supports and health services.
The AFCR is looking to make Manitoba the most age-friendly province in all of Canada, based on those eight principles. The organization has created a partnership with community members and organizations including seniors and seniors' organizations, government, service providers and a group of researchers representing different academic disciplines such as city planning, community health sciences, geography, nursing, physics education and recreation studies, psychology, social work and sociology.
The City of Thompson joined with 15 other communities from across the province to participate in the fourth round of the Age-Friendly Manitoba Initiative (AFMI). After the study was done, the seniors and other groups of people that conducted the research released a summary of what they found in a report prepared by Dr. Judie Davis and Josey Poapst and Dr. Verena Menec, director of the Centre on Aging at the University of Manitoba.
The report is split into five priorities, with the first one being providing community education to create "senior awareness." The group noted that since the apartment vacancy rate is so low, landlords feel they do not have to be flexible and accommodating towards seniors' needs. Potential actions the group pointed out that the City of Thompson could undertake include providing education to apartment owners and landlords about issues that are important to seniors, such as recognizing the need for safety rails along stairways in and in washrooms and the need to make garbage bins easily accessible for seniors and people with mobility issues. The group also wants to see education provided to seniors on how to get their opinion out there by participating in public sessions like city council meetings. They would also like to see more gerontology courses at the high school, more inter-generational programs and for their report to be distributed widely.
The next priority focuses on expanding options for safe housing for seniors. The group pointed out the fact that there is limited space for developing proper housing, citing "poor ground" to build upon, geographical limitations and the Burntwood River dividing land in the city. Their suggestions in this area are to increase safe seniors' apartments in Thompson with a special emphasis on affordable seniors' housing where rent is based on a percentage of each individual tenant's income. The group would also like to see the city look into financial assistance from different levels of government to support seniors' housing. They suggested the first few floors of apartment buildings could be allocated for seniors' housing and assisted living.
Another priority outlined in the report looks at improving communication and awareness of what the group calls "urban elder community growth". The group is looking to communicate the need for and involving the federal government in the expansion of housing and medical facilities due to expanding outlying communities using the city's services and facilities.
The next priority involves improving transportation options for seniors in the City of Thompson. The group identified the struggles seniors I the city often face such as the cost of financing transportation options and accessing resources. They suggest creating changes to ensure local transportation is more age and user friendly, including the use of smaller buses, more bus stops, and buses that are able to lower and raise to accommodate wheel chairs and seniors and others with mobility issues. The group would also like to see a public service such as public transit or a shuttle service that will take people to the air port. The group is looking to make a presentation to the Burntwood Regional Health Authority (BRHA) to encourage them to establish a medical shuttle service that can take seniors to their medical appointments.
The final priority the group released in the report is increasing access to tele-health for seniors by approaching the BRHA board and encouraging them to recruit specialists to service the citizens of Thompson through tele-health.
A one-day orientation is being held on Nov. 16 in Winnipeg where communities that took part in the studies can send four representatives to attend. A grant cheque of $5,000 will be awarded to the City of Thompson at the event for taking part in the project.
