Challenging Ageism in the City of Salisbury

Summary

The City of Salisbury understood the most powerful way to combat ageism was to ensure older people had access to information, opportunities to be heard, their ideas responded to, and processes in place to build their capacity to be community contributors and leaders.‘COTA SA Conversations with Northern Seniors’ is one initiative which reflects how this has been achieved. This is a partnership between the City of Salisbury, South Australia’s seniors’ peak body – Council on the Ageing South Australia (COTA SA) and Community Ambassadors (a group of older residents who since 2010 have provided leadership to seniors in the northern region of Adelaide).This initiative provides bimonthly forums on diverse topics that directly impact the lives of older residents. Forums involve:• Presentations on specific topics including ‘expert’ input• Facilitated discussions on pre-set questions to elicit older residents experience and knowledge• Feedback by COTA SA and the City of Salisbury on information gathered from previous forumsTopics of forums to date: • Seniors’ Housing; • Ageism – Alive & Thriving; • Road Safety & Older Drivers;• Creative Ageing – It’s Never Too Late;• Celebrate Ageing – Know Your Rights; and• All You Need To Know About Aged Care. There are over 130 registered members with 60-70 older people from a broad cross-section of the community attending forums.Participants feedback has been exceptional, 90-95% of participants rate the forums as excellent.The information gathered informs policy development by COTA SA and guides City of Salisbury planning – in particular in the implementation of its Aged Friendly Strategy. The Ageism Forum elicited some insightful suggestions as to how we could continue to mitigate ageism within our community through collaborative, multi-layered approaches. The key to this partnership has been the absolute commitment to ‘reframe ageing’ through the engagement, participation and empowerment of older residents.

Website: http://www.salisbury.sa.gov.au/Live/Community/Aged_Services/Age_Friendly_Strategy_2015_to_2020

Key facts

Main target group: Older people in general

Sector(s): Social protection

Desired outcome for older people:
Learn, grow and make decisions

Other issues the Age-friendly practice aims to address:

Ageism
Accessibility
Inequities

Other Issues: Issues relating to WHO Age Friendly Domains. To date: Communication and Information; Social Participation; Respect and Social Inclusion; Transport and Housing

Contact details

Name: Leckie, Sue

Email address: sleckie@salisbury.sa.gov.au

Preferred language(s): English

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

Engaging the wider community

Project lead: Local authorities

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

Details on older people’s involvement: Community Ambassadors actively participate in the broader planning, identification of topics and guest speakers, and forum question development.At each forum Community Ambassadors facilitate small table discussions on pre-set questions to elicit and document the insights, experience and knowledge of older residents.Additionally they actively promote the forums and engage other residents.

Moving forward

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

Please share with us what you found in detail:
On average 90-95% of participants rate the forums as excellent, but more importantly information gathered has been utilised to inform policy development by COTA SA and has guided City of Salisbury in the development of future activities – in particular in the implementation of the Age Friendly Salisbury Strategy. For example the Ageism forum in December 2015 elicited a number of insightful suggestions as to how we could continue to mitigate ageism within our community.

Feedback:
Feedback has been very positive. On average 90-95% of participants rate the forums as excellent. All feedback is used to inform future forums, activities and policy development.

Expansion plans:
Yes. We plan to continue to embed opportunities for older residents to be engaged and contribute to the ongoing creation of an age-friendly Salisbury.

Looking back

Reflections:
The initiative has exceeded our expectations. Feedback consistently supports the continuation of this initiative.What has worked well: the collaboration between partners; the community being an equal and active partner through Community Ambassador representation; the development of a registration process and database for event and broader community engagement; the diversity of topics and the diversity and quality of speakers.

Challenges:
To date there have been no significant challenges. One challenge has been having a large enough venue to accommodate the level of interest. We are confident that through the quality of the collaboration and feedback provided that challenges can be resolved.