Earlier this year the City of Summerside was accepted into the United Nations’ World Health Organization’s Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities.
On Tuesday Jim Hamilton, an international United Nations World Health Organization expert on age-friendly communities, offered support to the city’s initiative at a meeting of the Greater Summerside Chamber of Commerce.
Hamilton served in an advisory capacity in the creation of the United Nations` World Health Organization`s publication “Global Age Friendly Cities: A Guide.” He is currently the associate director of the Centre on Aging at the University of Manitoba and is the former executive director of the Manitoba Seniors’ and Healthy Aging Secretariat. Hamilton has also worked with the Public Health Agency of Canada as well as with provincial and territorial governments on the issues of healthy aging and age-friendly communities.
He said Summerside is already age-friendly but can look at ways to becoming more so.
Hamilton said Credit Union Place is a perfect intergenerational facility and offers unique opportunities for enhancing age-friendly ideals.
“The age-friendly initiative is really a journey,” he said. “It’s about the people, the social environment, and it’s about the place, the physical environment. It’s about people of every age and whatever you do it becomes more age-friendly with people of all ages.”
He said becoming age-friendly could involve such measures as putting in a countdown counter at a signal light, extending the length of that light to allow for more time for people to get across the street. It helps not only the seniors but also toddlers and parents with young children in tow to cross the street.
“The business community is also an integral part a community working to be age friendly,” he said.
He said there are 33 cities around the world taking part in the World Health Organization’s age-=friendly city initiative.
“We all need to continue to rethink aging and appreciate the value of the contributions older citizens continue to make to enrich all of our lives,” he said. “It’s what we all want from the community where we live. We want to be healthy. We want to remain in our homes and we want to be mobile.”
Hamilton said some of the initiatives that have taken place around the world are seniors only parking stall as shopping centres and on the street, public washrooms and benches with arm rests, “to help yourself up or help yourself down,” he said.
The inclusion of wheelchair ramps on buildings would be another initiative.
Hamilton said one community set up an age-friendly Facebook page to connect all the generations together. Another city invested in scooters for visiting seniors who have mobility issues.
He said Summerside is a regional centre for all of Prince County with its specialized services, shopping, recreation and educational opportunities.
“We want to become more age-friendly to the citizens who live here but how do we become more age-friendly to those in the outlying communities? It’s good for your local economy. It’s good for the business community with potential new business opportunities.”
Hamilton said the creation of an age-friendly community is going to take a partnership, a union involving the voice of seniors, local business and all three levels of government.
