Adding life to years
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Summary

Saanich Parks, Recreation and Community Services created an Older Adults Strategy for 2017 – 2022. Hearing from over 2000 older adults Saanich identified four strategic priorities which will set the direction for the department to meet the needs of the older adult population for the next few years.:

  • Programming Continuum
  • Age Friendly Spaces
  • Collaboration
  • Enhanced Communication

Website: http://www.saanich.ca

Key facts

Main target group: Older people in general

Sector(s): Health

Other sector(s): Recreation, Leisure and Social Connection

Desired outcome for older people:
Build and maintain relationships

Other issues the Age-friendly practice aims to address:
  • Ageism
  • Accessibility
  • Dementia
  • Healthy behaviours (e.g. physical activity)
  • Intergenerational activities
  • Inclusion
  • Participation

Contact details

Name: Saanich Parks, Recreation, Community Services Wallace

Email address: julie.wallace@saanich.ca

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

Engaging the wider community

Project lead: Other

Other project lead: Municipal staff

Others involved in the project:
  • Private sector

How collaboration worked: The Older Adults Strategy was created through multiple public engagement sessions, community advisory committee and core project team which included members of the public and representatives from senior serving agencies in the city. We collaborated with staff, public and community agencies and members through 2 surveys, 44 public engagement sessions, 20 events and 1 community forum. The Strategy included resource requests that would be needed in order to fulfill the goals and outcomes identified. The OAS went before Council and was approved in 2017.

Older people’s involvement: Older people were involved in the age-friendly practice at multiple or all stages

Details on older people’s involvement: Older adults were recruited for the Advisory Committee, Project Team and Research Team. The Advisory committee was created to guide the project and make sure feedback from the public was being included in our notes and data. The Project Team helped with analyzing the data and writing of the report. The Research Team helped with the public engagements sessions, focus groups, surveys and events.

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:
We have ongoing evaluations of the OAS. Each goal has multiple outcomes and timelines noted for each in order to evaulate our progress and impact.

Expansion plans:
Our plan in to continue to implement the goals and actions outlined in the five year plan. We are now into year 2 of the strategy.

Looking back

Challenges:
The main challenge faced was the funding required in order to achieve the goals. In the first year, the strategy was approved by Council but not funded. This made some of the actions impossible to implement. In the second year, resources were requested again and this time funding was approved. This allowed for more staff resources and funds to be put towards implementing the strategy.