Age-friendly Saskatoon Initiative
Age-friendly Saskatoon News
( L to R - June Gawdun, SCOA Executive Director; Murray Scharf, SCOA Corporate Secretary; Candace Skrapek, President SCOA; John Waddington, member of the Affinity Credit Union District Council)
December 2011: John Waddington, member of the Affinity Credit Union District Council presents a cheque to SCOA for $5000.00 for phase II of the Age-friendly Saskatoon Community project.
About Age-friendly Saskatoon
Age-friendly Saskatoon, an initiative of the Saskatoon Council on Aging, will support older adults to lead healthy independent lives, to be active and socially engaged. This important initiative is designed to involve the greater Saskatoon community and will be led by older adults.
The initiative is Phase 1 of the proposed implementation of the World Health Organization (WHO), age-friendly city model. An age-friendly community has policies, services, settings and structures that support and enable people to age actively. Success requires the commitment and support of community leaders, businesses and organizations to champion and provide the leadership for the ongoing pursuit of an Age-friendly Saskatoon.
This initiative compliments the City of Saskatoon’s strategic planning process: Saskatoon Speaks.
An Age-friendly Saskatoon Steering Community has been formed to determine current and future needs in Saskatoon in eight core age-friendly areas identified by the WHO that contribute to active aging and well-being. The Age-friendly Saskatoon Steering Committee includes seniors, senior serving organizations, public officials, community leaders, service providers and volunteers. Together they will identify initiatives and programs for older adults that are working well in our community and what needs to be addressed to improve community participation, security, and health and will propose an action plan to provide direction for future policy development.
“Older adults are an increasingly diverse and valuable resource in our community. The Age-friendly Saskatoon Initiative will undertake research and consult widely to develop strategies to enable older adults to remain active, maintain their health and well-being and participate fully in our community. I am pleased to be involved in this important initiative,” said Dr. Vera Pezer, Honorary Chairperson. In 15 years Saskatoon residents over the age of 65 will comprise approximately 25 percent of the city’s population. Planning to accommodate this segment of the population must begin now.
The initiative is able to proceed immediately through the generous support of the Government of Canada through the New Horizons for Seniors Program and Affinity Credit Union.
