David McMillan, owner of Home Instead Seniors Care, details the next step in the work of Summerside’s Age-Friendly City Committee to a room business leaders who have signed on to be part of the initiative.
That’s why, to date, Slemon Park Corporation has updated nine homes, widening doorways and installing things like raised toilets.
“We have 253 residential rental homes at Slemon Park,” Anderson, the corporation’s vice-president of property management, told a room full of Summerside business owners over lunch on Thursday.
“Knowing that our population is aging — 9,000 people in Prince County and growing — we are looking and saying, we have 1950s vintage homes that were never designed to be age-friendly.”
The corporation plans to turn its focus on other areas with the park, including its hotel, to see what can be done to make those entities age-friendly.
“There is opportunity for growth,” said Anderson. “The population is growing and that is where the opportunities are and I think we need to strongly consider investing and taking part in that.”
Ideas like these are what Summerside’s Age-Friendly City Committee wants to hear from and share with the 45 businesses committed to doing what they could to improve service to seniors.
By 2040 estimates are there will be 15,000 Prince County residents over age 65.
In November, 15 trained volunteers — all local seniors — will visit these businesses to go over concerns raised in focus groups and share ideas on how to improve service and other things to entice these Islanders to frequent their business.
“They really have a vested interest as well,” said Heather Blouin, with Home Instead Senior Care, a partner in the age-friendly initiative.
“They have given us feedback and helped us prepare the information that we are going to share from their perspective.”
Each participating proprietor will have signage indicating they are an age-friendly business, and map of these businesses sent out to area seniors early in 2017.
Business owners are also encouraged to share ideas or tried-and-tested practices in accommodating clients over 65 with the visiting ambassadors.
“It is a cultural shift, it is mindset change. It is not all about bricks and mortar. It is not a costly endeavor,” said David McMillan, owner of Home Instead Seniors Care.
“It may be as simple as getting up and greeting someone when they come in the door that makes all the difference in the world.”
The hope at the end of the five-year project is that the World Health Organization will designate Summerside an age-friendly community.
