Report to/Rapport au:
Health, Recreation and Social
Services Committee
Comité de la santé, des loisirs et des services
sociaux
19 January 2006/le 19 Janvier 2006
Steve Kanellakos, Deputy City Manager, Community and Protective Services \directeur municipal adjoint, Services communautaires et de protection
Contact Person/Personne-ressource :
Diane Officer, Director, Long Term Care/directrice, Soins de longue durée
580-2424, ext./poste 21426,
Diane.Officer@ottawa.ca
|
SUBJECT: |
Seniors Agenda – February 2006 |
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OBJET : |
REPORT
RECOMMENDATION
That the
Health, Recreation, and Social Services Committee receive this report for
information.
Que le Comité de la santé, des loisirs et des services sociaux reçoive ce rapport ŕ titre informatif.
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
The Seniors
Agenda is one of 12 Priority Initiatives of the Community and Protective
Services (CPS) Strategic Plan. This
initiative positions the City to address the issues of the rapidly aging
population. By the year 2020, more than
one in six Ottawa residents will be over the age of 65. Projections indicate an
increase of 100,000 seniors over the current 89,000, totalling 189,000. Ottawa has been a leader among Canadian
cities in building a strong community support system for seniors but the City’s
changing demographic will require the City to increase its effectiveness and
efficiency in its provision of services to seniors to meet this challenge.
This report outlines an action plan to address
the three priority areas of Housing, Transportation and Mobility, and
Communication. These were identified
through consultations with seniors and service providers, the work of the
Seniors Advisory Committee (SAC) and Successful Aging Ottawa (SAO) and a review
of relevant literature including the Ottawa Fact Book on Aging[1]
and the SAO Ottawa Seniors Survey[2]. CPS will report back on progress on this
action plan through the Departmental Business Plan annual reporting on CPS
Strategic Priorities.
The Seniors Agenda takes a population health
approach, including a focus on prevention, through healthy and active living,
mobility, access to services and participation in community life. This initiative reflects the position that
making the City a better place for seniors makes it a better place for
everyone.
Making the City a place where seniors age
successfully also makes good economic sense. Providing opportunities to stay
active and engaged will allow seniors to keep contributing to society and
minimize periods of dependency, an essential component of managing health care
and social service expenditures in the long term. The Seniors Agenda reflects the Guiding Principles of the 20/20
Plan.
The Seniors Agenda recognizes that seniors make
substantial contributions to society, for example through paying taxes,
volunteering, providing informal care to children and other seniors, and making
charitable donations. Nine percent of
seniors in Ottawa are still in the labour force. Although many Ottawa seniors are doing well, seniors represent a
wide diversity of values, abilities and needs with seniors ranging in age from
65 to 105+ years. For example, 18% of
Ottawa seniors have household incomes less than $20,000 and 10% of seniors are
isolated.
The Seniors Agenda takes the approach that “one
size does not fit all”. Two key areas
where solutions must take into account differing needs are seniors living in
rural areas and cultural diversity among the seniors population.
The City is working together with the community
as well as collaborating internally to improve services and increase awareness
of seniors’ issues. The work of the Seniors Advisory Committee and Successful
Aging Ottawa has provided an evidence-based foundation on which to build the
Seniors Agenda. In 2001, the Seniors
Advisory Committee of the City of Ottawa was appointed to bring the issues
facing Ottawa’s seniors to City Council.
A report, including 28 recommendations was created. These were prioritized into five key
recommendations. Successful Aging
Ottawa is an initiative that is bringing together funders and planners to
develop a framework for successful aging that promotes and supports independence,
participation and quality of life for seniors.
Major collaborators include United Way, the Council on Aging, the City
of Ottawa through Ottawa Public Health, the Regional Geriatric Assessment Unit,
the Elisabeth Bruyere Research Institute and the University of Ottawa. In May 2004, SAO conducted the Ottawa
Seniors Survey of over 1,000 Ottawa seniors.
The City provides services and programs
specifically targeted to seniors or which have an impact on seniors’ quality of
life. Examples of direct City services
for seniors include seniors health promotion programs provided through Ottawa
Public Health, home help services, homebound library services, four Long Term
Care facilities, and discounted Seniors Bus Passes. The City also provides a range of services that impact seniors
such as paramedic services, rural public health nurses, road and sidewalk
winter maintenance, access to winter grit to improve traction for winter
walking, and access to City Services through the 311 Call Centre, Client
Service Centres, the Ottawa Public Health Information Line, E-mail and
Ottawa.ca. In addition, the City
invests $1.1 million in non-profit community organizations that support
seniors.
Since the Seniors Agenda was initiated in the
winter of 2005, the City has launched a number of new initiatives that have
benefited seniors and enhanced many of its existing services. Examples include opening the new Garry J.
Armstrong Long Term Care Home, launching the Exercise Program for Homebound
Seniors, funding a support position in an “aged mixed” apartment building and
designating a staff position within the Ottawa Police Service to work with
Elder Abuse victims. In 2005, the
Seniors Agenda assembled a cross-departmental working group to share
information, build on the work of SAC and SAO and research emerging trends and
effective practices in other municipalities.
This resulted in the identification of key issue areas including
housing, transportation and mobility, safety and security and healthy active
living.
A community consultation was held in the fall
of 2005 to review these key issue areas and identify the top three priorities
and possible solutions. Staff met with
11 different groups, including urban, suburban and rural, English and French
and 1 meeting with the Multicultural Health Coalition. Input was received from over 300
residents. The three key priorities
identified through the community consultation are housing, transportation and
mobility, and communication. The action plan outlined in this report positions
the City to address these key priorities.
RÉSUMÉ
Le Plan d’action pour les aînés est l’une des douze
initiatives prioritaires du Plan stratégique de Services communautaires et de
protection (SCP). Il permet ŕ la Ville de s’attaquer au problčme d’une population
qui vieillit rapidement : d’ici 2020, au-delŕ d’un résident sur six ŕ
Ottawa aura plus de 65 ans. On prévoit que le nombre des aînés s’accroîtra
de 100 000, pour atteindre un total de 189 000. Parmi les villes
canadiennes, Ottawa montre la voie en mettant en place un excellent systčme de
soutien ŕ l’intention des personnes du troisičme âge. Cependant, les
changements démographiques qui s’opčrent exigent que la Ville fasse preuve
d’encore plus d’efficacité dans les services qu’elle offre aux aînés.
Ce rapport décrit sommairement un plan d’action visant trois secteurs prioritaires : le logement, le transport et la mobilité, et la communication. Ces domaines se sont dégagés de consultations auprčs d’aînés et de fournisseurs de services, des travaux du Comité consultatif sur les personnes âgées et de Bien vieillir ŕ Ottawa (BVO), ainsi que d’une analyse bibliographique incluant le Recueil statistique sur le vieillissement ŕ Ottawa[3] et l’Enquęte sur les aînés de BVO[4]. SCP rendra compte de la mise en śuvre du plan d’action dans ses rapports annuels sur ses priorités stratégiques.
Le Plan d’action pour les aînés vise la santé de la population du troisičme âge et particuličrement la prévention, que ce soit par la promotion d’un mode de vie sain et actif, la mobilité, l’accčs aux services ou la participation ŕ la vie communautaire. Nous avons tout ŕ gagner ŕ faire de notre ville un milieu plus favorable aux personnes âgées.
Aider les aînés ŕ bien vieillir dans notre ville, c’est aussi faire preuve de bon sens économique. En ayant la possibilité d’ętre actives et de s’engager, les personnes âgées pourront continuer de contribuer ŕ la société et réduiront la durée de leur dépendance, ce qui est essentiel ŕ la saine gestion, ŕ long terme, des dépenses liées aux soins de santé et aux services sociaux. Le Plan d’action pour les aînés est par ailleurs conforme aux principes directeurs d’Ottawa 20/20.
Le Plan d’action reconnaît que les aînés apportent beaucoup ŕ la société, ne serait-ce que par les impôts qu’ils paient, leur service bénévole, les soins qu’ils assurent ŕ des enfants et ŕ d’autres aînés ou leurs dons ŕ des organismes de bienfaisance. Ŕ Ottawa, 9 p. 100 des personnes âgées font encore partie de la population active. Bien qu’elles soient nombreuses ŕ bien se porter, leurs valeurs, leurs capacités et leurs besoins varient énormément et leur plage d’âge est trčs vaste (de 65 ŕ plus de 105 ans). Par exemple, 18 p. 100 d’entre elles touchent un revenu inférieur ŕ 20 000 $, tandis que 10 p. 100 sont isolées.
Le Plan d’action part du principe qu’il n’existe pas de solution unique, comme le laissent entrevoir les besoins particuliers des aînés qui vivent en milieu rural et la diversité culturelle au sein de la population âgée.
Ŕ l’interne comme au sein de la communauté, la Ville s’efforce d’améliorer les services aux aînés et de sensibiliser la population ŕ leurs problčmes. Les travaux du Comité consultatif sur les personnes âgées et de Bien vieillir ŕ Ottawa ont fourni les faits probants sur lesquels repose le Plan d’action. En 2001, le Comité consultatif a été chargé de porter les difficultés des aînés d’Ottawa ŕ l’attention du Conseil municipal, ce qu’il a fait en rédigeant un rapport comportant 28 recommandations, hiérarchisées en cinq catégories clés. Bien vieillir ŕ Ottawa réunit des bailleurs de fonds et des planificateurs dans le but de fixer des paramčtres pour un vieillissement réussi, lesquels favorisent et appuient l’autonomie, la participation et la qualité de vie des aînés. On compte parmi les principaux intervenants Centraide, le Conseil sur le vieillissement, la Ville d’Ottawa par l’entremise de Santé publique Ottawa, le Programme régional d'évaluation gériatrique, l'Institut de recherche Élisabeth-Bruyčre et l'Université d’Ottawa. En mai 2004, BVO a mené auprčs de plus de 1 000 personnes âgées son Enquęte sur les aînés.
La Ville offre des services et des programmes destinés aux aînés ou ayant une incidence sur leur qualité de vie. Mentionnons, ŕ titre de services directs, les programmes de promotion de la santé des aînés assurés par Santé publique Ottawa, les services d’aide ŕ domicile et de bibliothčque pour les aînés confinés ŕ la maison, les quatre établissements de soins de longue durée et le tarif spécial pour les laissez-passer d’OC Transpo. Parmi les services qui touchent les aînés indirectement, on compte le Service paramédic, les soins assurés par les infirmičres en santé publique dans les zones rurales, l’entretien des rues et des trottoirs en hiver, l’accčs ŕ du gravier pour faciliter la marche en hiver et les services municipaux accessibles par l’entremise du Centre d'appels 3‑1‑1, des centres du service ŕ la clientčle, de la Ligne d’info-santé publique, du courriel et d’ottawa.ca. En outre, la Ville investit un peu plus de 1,1 million de dollars dans des organismes sans but lucratif qui appuient les aînés.
Depuis l’adoption, ŕ l’hiver 2005, du Plan d’action pour les aînés, la Ville a lancé des projets qui se sont avérés bénéfiques pour les personnes âgées et a amélioré bon nombre des services existants : ouverture du nouveau Foyer de soins de longue durée Garry-J.-Armstrong, début du programme d’exercices ŕ domicile pour les aînés confinés ŕ la maison, financement d’un poste de soutien dans un immeuble d’appartements pour résidents aux « âges multiples » et création au sein du Service de police d'Ottawa d’un poste d’intervention auprčs des aînés victimes de mauvais traitements, pour n’en nommer que quelques-uns. En 2005, un groupe de travail interservices a été formé dans le but d’échanger des renseignements, de mettre ŕ profit les travaux du Comité consultatif sur les personnes âgées et de Bien vieillir ŕ Ottawa et de se renseigner sur les tendances nouvelles et les pratiques exemplaires d’autres municipalités. Son travail a permis de cerner les dossiers méritant une attention particuličre : le logement, le transport et la mobilité, la sécurité et un mode de vie sain et actif.
Une consultation communautaire a eu lieu ŕ l’automne 2005 pour examiner ces dossiers et relever les trois grandes priorités ainsi que des solutions possibles. Le personnel a rencontré onze groupes représentant les secteurs urbain, surburbain et rural, les communautés francophone et anglophone, ainsi que la Coalition multiculturelle pour la santé. Plus de 300 résidents ont également exprimé leur opinion. Les trois priorités qui se dégagent de cette consultation sont le logement, le transport et la mobilité ainsi que la communication. Le plan d’action résumé dans le présent rapport indique les mesures que la Ville pourrait prendre dans ces domaines.
BACKGROUND
The Seniors Agenda is one of the 12 Priority
Initiatives of the Community and Protective Services Department (CPS) Three
Year Strategic Plan. This initiative
positions the City to address the issues of our rapidly aging population. The demographic shift suggests that by the
year 2020, more than one in six Ottawa residents will be over the age of 65, an
increase of 100,000 seniors over the current 89,000. Among Canadian cities, Ottawa is second only to
Calgary in greatest percentage growth in seniors’ population in last five
years. Increased
collaboration between all of the community partners will be needed to provide
the continuum of services required to meet the projected needs.
The Seniors Agenda reflects the Guiding
Principles of the 20/20 Plan. It
identifies an action plan encompassing three priority areas identified through
consultations with seniors and service providers, the work of the Seniors
Advisory Committee and Successful Aging Ottawa, and a review of relevant
literature including the Ottawa Fact Book on Aging 2004 (Council of Aging of
Ottawa) and the Ottawa Seniors Survey 2004 (SAO).
Seniors in the City of Ottawa
The City of Ottawa is home to 89,000 people over the age of 65 (Stats
Can 2001). Although the age of the
oldest resident is unknown, the most recent data shows that there were 115
residents over the age of 100, many of whom are still living in their own
homes. Some of the older sections of
the former City of Ottawa have very high concentrations of seniors. For example, 25% of the residents of New
Edinburgh and Copeland are seniors. In recent years, the former cities of
Gloucester, Nepean and particularly Kanata have seen very rapid growth in their
seniors’ populations.
The vast majority of Ottawa’s seniors live
independent lives in their own homes. In 2001, only 8% were living in
institutional residences and of them the majority were 85 and older.
The Seniors Agenda recognizes that seniors make
substantial contributions to society, for example through paying taxes, making
charitable donations, volunteering and providing informal care to others. Ottawa seniors paid more than $650M in
federal and provincial income taxes in 2000.
In 2001, 9% of Ottawa seniors were still in the labour force, 60% of
seniors reported they were active volunteers, more than one in six provided
child care without pay and nearly one in five helped other seniors.
Although many Ottawa seniors are doing well, seniors represent a wide
diversity of values, abilities, and needs.
They range in age over 40 years, spanning at least four different
cohorts, from 65 to 105+ years of age.
The SAO Ottawa Seniors Survey indicates 10% of seniors are experiencing
isolation and that 23% need help with one or more activities of daily
living. The Fact Book on Aging reports
that, according to the 2001 Census, 18% percent of seniors in Ottawa had
household incomes less than $20,000 and 26% of seniors lived alone, the
majority (77%) of them women.
A Population Health Approach
The Seniors Agenda reflects the Guiding Principles of the 20/20 Plan.
It takes a population health approach, including a focus on prevention, through
healthy and active living, mobility, access to services and participation in
community life. This initiative
reflects the position that making the City a better place for seniors makes it
a better place for everyone. Making the
City a place where seniors age successfully also makes good economic sense. Providing opportunities to stay active and
engaged will allow seniors to keep contributing to society and minimize periods
of dependency. Currently seniors consume 45% of health care expenditures, a
proportion that could grow rapidly as the population ages. Promoting healthy behaviours and creating
supportive environments for seniors is an essential component of managing
health care and social service expenditures in the long term.
The Seniors Agenda takes the approach that “one
size does not fit all”. Two key areas
where solutions must take into account differing needs are cultural diversity
among seniors and seniors living in rural areas.
Cultural
Diversity Among Seniors
Diversity seen in the influx of new Canadians to Ottawa is reflected in
the seniors’ population with 21% of seniors identifying their mother tongue as
neither English nor French (2001 Census).
It is estimated that about 1,800 foreign-born seniors in Ottawa came to
Canada in the last 10 years (SAO Seniors Survey). A literature review on diversity conducted for the City by
consultant Elizabeth Kwan in 2002 identifies a number of consistent issues
impacting a culturally diverse population:
·
Language
barriers for other than English or French;
·
Difficulty
understanding and interacting in the “mainstream” Canadian systems and culture;
·
Experiences
of racism, prejudice and stereotyping;
·
Apprehensions
of Canadian authority (i.e. immigration officials, police);
·
Need
for improved communication of information to and from residents within
municipal government (Councillors and staff);
·
Need
for culturally appropriate planning, programming and services;
·
Need
for cultural sensitivity and awareness within municipal government (Councillors
and staff).
Seniors
Living in Rural Areas
Another area for consideration is the diversity of needs between urban
and rural seniors, the latter thought to be about 1500 in number. The Rural Summit consultations held in 2005
summarized three key messages:
·
Rural
citizens want the City to understand that one size does not fit
all;
·
Common
sense must be applied to service delivery and policy issues; and
·
The
new City needs to respect rural citizens more.
Some An
examples
of an issues
related to rural seniors isinclude
the need for housing options for seniors who can no longer stay in their own
homes that would permit them to remain in their rural communities. Other
examples are the need for community spaces for activities and programming
and transportation to services that take the particular circumstances of
seniors living in rural areas into account.
The Seniors Agenda will identify specific ways in which the City can
improve how it delivers services to seniors in rural neighbourhoods.
DISCUSSION
The work of the Seniors Advisory Committee and Successful Aging Ottawa
has provided an evidence-based foundation on which to build the City of
Ottawa’s Seniors Agenda.
Seniors Advisory Committee
In 2001, the Seniors Advisory Committee of the City of Ottawa was appointed to gather the views of Ottawa residents on issues relating to seniors and to develop a seniors' strategy for the City of Ottawa’s Official Plan. The process developed to undertake this included two workshops held in the fall 2002 with over 100 seniors and service providers participating in the first session and over 80 people attending the second. From this consultation came five key recommendations:
These recommendations were presented to City Council in December 2002 and their status was reviewed in June 2003. The key priorities from that process as identified by the Seniors Advisory Committee in the spring of 2005 were Housing, Transportation and Healthy Active Living.
Successful Aging Ottawa
The City of Ottawa, through Ottawa Public Health, has also played a key
role in the development and ongoing support for Successful Aging Ottawa. Initiated by the Council on Aging of Ottawa
in 2002, Successful Aging brought together funders and planners concerned about
the absence of a comprehensive plan for seniors in Ottawa. The major
collaborators are the United Way, the Council on Aging, the City of Ottawa
through Ottawa Public Health, the Regional Geriatric Assessment Unit, the
Elisabeth Bruyere Research Institute and the University of Ottawa. The goal is
to develop a framework for successful aging that promotes and supports
independence, participation and quality of life for seniors. The framework will capture the range of
needs and capacities of seniors from prevention to treatment in the community
and in care settings. As part of its
Vision, Successful Aging Ottawa states:
Ottawa is committed to creating a climate which promotes the values and conditions that contribute to optimal aging, and subscribes to the idiom, ‘what’s good for seniors is good for the whole community’.
In May 2004, Successful Aging Ottawa conducted
a telephone survey in both official languages of 1017 Ottawa seniors living in
their homes with an oversampling of those aged 85+. The broad categories of information collected were about living
in Ottawa, their health, both physical and mental, life events and issues of
concern, help given/help received, social support and isolation, transportation
and getting out, housing and living situation, community support services and
their basic demographic data. To
address the undersampled groups, for example, the multicultural communities and
the frail that might not have wanted to participate in a ˝ hour interview,
focus groups were held. A
full summary of the study's highlights can be found at http://www.unitedwayottawa.ca/english/sao_report.htm.
City Programs Serving Seniors Directly or Impacting Seniors
The City of Ottawa provides many services and programs for seniors and
leverages much in the community for seniors.
The City of Ottawa provides direct services to seniors as well as
services that address needs of the general population and impact seniors. The
City also leverages many services and programs for seniors through its
collaborative efforts and community funding contributions.
In the direct services category, the City of
Ottawa provides over 700 residents with accommodations and care in its four
Long Term Care FacilitiesHomes,
close to 2515%
of facility provided care in the city.
The City also provides health promotion programs for seniors including
the Rural Health program, Falls Prevention and the Physical Activity Strategy
of Community and Protective Services, immunization clinics and culturally
adapted services for Francophone seniors.
The City provides financial support for assisted living, Essential
Health and Social Supports (EHSS) and homemaking services, special library
services for homebound seniors and large print and audio books, operates four
Seniors Centres and a range of recreation programs for seniors, works with
Elder Abuse victims and manages seniors in health/living situation crises.
Services that are provided for the whole population that have a major
impact on seniors include transportation services, sidewalk and road design,
crosswalk safety, road and sidewalk winter maintenance, zoning (e.g. secondary
suites), paramedic services, emergency measures (e.g. during Hot Weather
events), and fire prevention services.
In addition, the City provides access to City services through the 311
Call Centre, Client Service Centres, the Ottawa Public Health Information Line,
E-mail and Ottawa.ca.
The City invests $1.1 million annually in community-based organizations
that support seniors living in the community.
The majority of these organizations also receive funding from the
Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, and the United Way and meet the rest of
their financial needs through donations and fundraising. The Community Funding Framework Report,
(January 19, 2006,) provided more details, including the need to stabilize
non-profit organizations through core funding streams while allowing for
responsiveness to emerging needs through project funding.
Seniors Agenda
Ottawa has been a leader among Canadian cities
in building a strong community support system for seniors. The City is committed to demonstrating
continued leadership on this important issue.
The City is working together with the community as well as collaborating
internally to improve services and increase awareness of seniors’ issues.
The Seniors Agenda is a collaborative
initiative with the community. There is
strong community support and high expectations of positive results for the
Seniors Agenda. The Seniors Agenda
builds on the work of the Seniors Advisory Committee and Successful Aging
Ottawa. In turn, the Seniors Agenda is
an inter-departmental effort. It has as
one of its main themes the improvement of inter- and intradepartmental
collaboration in an effort to improve the efficiency with which the City
delivers its service to seniors.
By creating the Seniors Agenda, the City has
recognized that it needs to position itself for the rapidly aging population
that will appear over the next 14 years to the year 2020. The goals of the Seniors Agenda are
to inventory existing programs and to identify opportunities to deliver
effective, efficient and affordable services to seniors in collaboration with
community-based partners.
In the first year, the Seniors Agenda has focused on assembling the
infrastructure for the initiative and completing background research and
analysis. The Seniors Agenda assembled
a cross-departmental Working Group with representatives from all City services
that impact on seniors, including Ottawa Public Health, Ottawa Public Library,
Parks and Recreation, OC Transpo, Housing, Ottawa Paramedic Services, Long Term
Care, Ottawa Police Services, Employment and Financial Support, Client Services
and Public Information (311 Contact Centre), Public Works and the Community
Funding Division.
The Seniors Agenda has compiled a list of the
City of Ottawa provided services and key contacts, made contacts with other
municipalities to review their efforts to address their aging populations and
consulted frequently with the Seniors Advisory Committee of the City of Ottawa
and Successful Aging Ottawa.
Since the Seniors Agenda was initiated in the
winter of 2005, the City has launched a number of new initiatives that
benefited seniors and enhanced many of its existing services. These include:
·
Provided
increased information to respond to the rising number of calls about services
for seniors to the Call Centre and the Ottawa Public Health Information Line
·
Recognized
seniors as a major vulnerable population in Emergency Planning’s Heat Wave Response,
resulting in no heat related deaths in the summer of 2005, a very hot summer
·
Worked
inter and intra departmentally through the meetings, workshops and public
facing displays of “What the City Does for Seniors” through the Seniors Agenda
Working Group
Initiatives
under development
or under consideration include:
·
Ottawa Paramedic Services is considering dDeveloping
a module for Ottawa Paramedic Services its
Paramedic staff that will increase their awareness of City
services so that they can appropriately refer residentsseniors
to them
·
Ottawa Public Libraries is Eexpanding Ottawa
Public Library its
services for homebound seniors
·
Emergency Planning has recognized seniors as a major vulnerable population
in its
Heat
Wave Planning resulting in no heat related deaths in the summer of 2005, a very
hot summer
There
have been more opportunities to work
inter and intra departmentally through the meetings, workshops and public
facing displays of “What the City Does for Seniors” through the Seniors Agenda
Working GroupAnd
by having a Seniors Agenda Project Manager, there has been an increase in the
city’s ability to respond from a citywide perspective to requests for
information, referral and presentations.
Grounded in the
research that had been done to date on seniors issues, the first in a series of
Annual Consultations was held in the fall of 2005 to ask the community,
particularly seniors, what solutions they could recommend for the City in the
key areas of housing, transportation, safety and security and healthy active
living and what were their three top priorities. A team from the Seniors Agenda received input from over 300
residents, meeting with 11 different groups across the city, urban, suburban
and rural, in English and French and including one meeting with the
Multicultural Health Coalition. Seven
of the groups were comprised of seniors while four groups were comprised of
service providers who spoke on behalf of more vulnerable seniors. In addition, 16 individuals who were not
able to participate in the sessions submitted their input electronically.
The top three priorities identified through
this process were housing, transportation and mobility, and communication. These three priorities are very
interdependent and impact the other priorities of safety and security as well
as healthy active living.
The issues that were
raised and reviewed through this process were not new to the seniors or the
City staff. What was emphasized at this
time is the desire to work collaboratively to develop solutions. It is anticipated that many steps can be
taken without substantial increases in funding. The City will continue to work collaboratively with its community
partners on the following action plan encompassing the three key priority
areas: Housing, Transportation and
Mobility, and Communication.
A high-level Action Plan has been developed to guide the work of the initiative over the next year.
Housing and Supports to Age in Place
Housing as a priority means a range of
solutions from the City supporting the creation of more affordable housing
units appropriate to the needs of seniors, including rural seniors, through to
providing more support for agencies that support seniors to live in their
existing homes, including supports that are sensitive to a culturally diverse
community. The information gathered
from the Seniors Agenda consultations is supplemented by preliminary findings
from the City Housing Strategy that encourage the provision of a wide range of
housing options for the City’s growing seniors population.
CPS staff will convene a working group including representatives from Ottawa Community Housing, the Council on Aging, the Seniors Advisory Committee, the Coalition of Community Support Organizations and internal partners: the Housing Branch, Cultural Services and Community Funding, Ottawa Public Health, By-Law Services, Ottawa Paramedic Service, and the Planning and Growth Management Department.
The housing working group will:
Transportation
and Mobility
Transportation is seen as a health issue
because seniors who do not have access to appropriate transportation are not
able to stay connected with their communities, recreation programs and social
activities. This contributes to
seniors’ isolation. Transportation is
also an issue for access to medical services.
The solutions proposed through the consultations ranged from enhanced
public transit availability to cultural sites, innovative ideas for
transportation for rural seniors to community programs and services, better
sidewalk maintenance, especially in winter, to stronger financial support to
Community Support Agencies to provide volunteer drivers.
The Public Works and
Services Department, Surface Operations Branch has been working with
Environment Canada's Adaptation and Impacts Research Group to gain a better
understanding of current Climate Change trends and the impacts to winter
maintenance and has consequently initiated Council approved enhancements to the
winter sidewalk and road maintenance program designed to support the Branch's
ability to effectively achieve satisfactory winter sidewalk and road conditions
and deliver appropriate winter services with the context of Climate Change
adaptation.
Leaders in the community have initiated a
community-led Seniors Transportation and Mobility Strategy. Representatives from the City of Ottawa’s
Cultural Services and Community Funding Branch, By-Law Services in terms of
Accessible Taxicabs, Surface Operations Branch, and OC Transpo’s Accessible
Transit Specialist will work through the Seniors Agenda initiative with the
Coalition of Community Support Organizations, Council on Aging and Reaching Out
To Isolated Seniors (ROTIS) to develop a strategy which addresses
transportation and mobility challenges.
City staff will:
Communication
Seniors participating in the consultation
process often referred to their frustrations with trying to work through issues
with the City ranging from how to use automated attendant systems to their
difficulty accessing information about City services through the web site to
interactions with City staff. Solutions
included improving these systems as well as having a staff member who could be
designated to assist them, cultural diversity and seniors awareness
training for staff providing services that impact seniors as well as for staff
providing direct services, and improving information-sharing and coordination
across branches and departments and with the community.
The Seniors Agenda Working Group will:
NEXT STEPS
Next steps include the formation of the identified working groups to
undertake the Seniors Agenda Action Plan.
The Seniors Agenda will continue to liaise with the Seniors Advisory
Committee and with the Rural Affairs Committee on areas related to seniors as
the action plan goes forward.
CONSULTATION
Community consultations were held in English
and French in the fall of 2005 with over 300 individuals and representatives of
community agencies participating.
In addition, the Seniors Agenda presented the
key messages to the Seniors Advisory Committee on February 1, 2006 and then the
Executive Summary and Action Plan on February 15, 2006. The Seniors Advisory Committee was in
agreement with the proposed Action Plan.
FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
There are
no financial implications to this report.
DISPOSITION
The Community and Protective Services Department will report back on
progress on the Seniors Agenda action plan through the Departmental Business
Plan annual reporting on the CPS Strategic Priorities.