How Age-Friendly is Ottawa? An Evaluation Framework to Measure the Age-Friendliness of Ottawa
Summary
Age-friendly Ottawa conducted an assessment to measure Ottawa’s age-friendliness. The assessment involved the creation of a local framework for action. Based on the assessment, we know more about the physical environments – outdoor spaces and buildings, transportation, and housing – than the social environments. In fact, three of the social age-friendly areas, social participation, civic participation and volunteering, and communication and information, have no data available.We found that many seniors in Ottawa were active, happy, and healthy. • 91% felt they could access health care (excluding home care) when they needed it• 89% were satisfied with life• 79% found it easier to walk in their neighbourhood for leisure than running errands• 70% had very good or excellent mental health• 68% had a very strong or strong sense of belonging to Ottawa• 47% walked 1 to 5 hours/week; another 22% walked six or more hours/week in their communityWe also found that some seniors were not doing as well in a few key areas. • 50% felt they had very good or excellent general health; lower than all Ottawans (62%)• 31% walked less than 1 hour each week in their neighbourhoods • Some found their neighbourhoods not as easy to get around for errands (40%) and exercise (21%)• Only 23% used public transit to get around• 21% fell in the past year; of those, 54% were injured enough to make it hard to do things• 11% of people hurt in car crashes were seniors on foot• Many low-income seniors live in neighbourhoods with less affordable housing• Some seniors experience elder abuseAnother report is planned for release in three to five years to see what has changed.
Key facts
Main target group: Older people in general
Sector(s): Information and communication
Other issues the Age-friendly practice aims to address:- Inequities
Contact details
Name: Schroeder, Bonnie
Email address: afo@coaottawa.ca
Preferred language(s): english