Making Seyhan a livable district for all age and gender groups is our priority and we are working hard to make the lives of our older citizens better in all areas. Our mobile personal care service for older adults and individuals with disabilities, a pioneering project in the region, is increasing its capacity, reaching over 1700 people in 2020. Our personal care team includes physiotherapy, personal hygiene and nursing services.

The feasibility studies of our ‘Active-Ageing Centre’ and ‘Alzheimer Centre’ is in progress. Our active-ageing centre will be in a location easily accessible by public transport and include sports facilities, arts and crafts workshops, social and cultural activities, recreation lounges and hobby gardens. We are also planning to make our municipal services more accessible to older adults by paying attention to details such as opening a priority cashier desk for the 60+ age group and establishing a hotline service to assist in referring older adults to various public services.

We do not see older adults just as the beneficiaries of social services but also as active participants in decision-making processes. In order to strengthen and build capacity to take part in the decision making processes about municipal activities, we established a ‘youngest-old council’ within our city council. This council, which includes members, retired from a diverse range of professions -including public sector, engineering, architecture, academia and private sector etc.- provides guidance to our municipal governance towards making Seyhan more age-friendly. The guidance of this council focuses on both the social and physical aspects of the local infrastructure.