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Summary

The Georgetown Age-Friendly Community team partnered with the Georgetown Volunteer Fire Department to improve the numbering of houses throughout town. Georgetown is a rural community with very little town lighting. Easy identification of house numbering is matter of safety for the fire and ambulance crews, especially at night. The program provides five-inch reflective numbers mounted on a small placard. Thanks to a grant from the Georgetown Working League, this is free to the homeowners and includes installation (in consultation with the homeowner).

Key facts

Main target group: Both younger and older people (i.e. intergenerational)

Other target group(s): Initial targeting is those on poorly lit roads with insufficient readable house numbers.

Sector(s): Health, Information and communication, Social protection

Desired outcome for older people:
Meet their basic needs

Other issues the Age-friendly practice aims to address:
  • Accessibility
  • Ageing in place
  • Disasters and emergencies

Contact details

Name: James Peavey

Email address: jamespv@myfairpoint.net

Age-friendly practice in detail (click to expand):

Engaging the wider community

Project lead: Other

Other project lead: Age-Friendly Community

Others involved in the project:
  • Local authorities
  • Volunteers

How collaboration worked: The Age-Friendly Community team partnered with our local Georgetown Volunteer Fire Department in developing the specifications for house number sign construction and installation. We received initial funding from a local social group, the Georgetown Working League and have received additional donations from those receiving the new signs and other local contributors.

Older people’s involvement: Older people helped to implement the age-friendly practice

Details on older people’s involvement: The project managers, who oversee the program and do the sign construction and installation are members of the Age-Friendly Georgetown team and are assisted by other members of the team. All participants are senior citizens.

Moving forward

Has the impact of this age-friendly practice been analysed: Yes

Was the impact positive or negative:
Positive

Please share with us what you found in detail:
The Fire Depatrment and EMS have noted that the signs greatly improve their ability to locate houses in an emergency. They are hopeful more town residents will take advantage of this opportunity.

Feedback:
We have received very positive feedback from the local Volunteer Fire Department and Emergency Management Service.

Expansion plans:
While the scope of the project will not expand, we will continue to market the program throughout town to get the participation of as many residents as possible.

Looking back

Reflections:
We are very pleased with how the project developed and was implemented. It was a true collaboration with the local authorities and town organizations.

Challenges:
The initial challenge was funding for the project, but that was resolved early on with a donation from a local social organization. With on-going donations, the project has remained in good shape financially. The labor involved in building and installing the signs is all volunteer.