Dominique Paris-MacKay is leading an initiative to make city services more accessible to seniors.
Ottawa is not ready to adapt to the rapidly aging population in its suburban and rural areas, which could further burden already encumbered services in the city centre, say old-age service providers.
In the next two decades, more seniors will be living outside Ottawa’s central areas than within, a reversal of the current demographics, according to the city’s Older Adult Plan 2012-2014.
As baby boomers already living in these areas age without sufficient senior services close to home, they may have to travel into the city for them, says Cathy Jordan, executive director of the Western Ottawa Community Resource Centre.
“(Improving) transportation is one of our biggest issues, to be able to take seniors down to, say, the Civic Hospital for repeated visits like for physiotherapy or cancer treatments,” she says.
Anne Kendall, community support services co-ordinator at the Good Companions Seniors’ Centre, says seniors usually move closer to the city for more convenient access to amenities such as grocery stores and transportation.
While the Good Companions is based in Centretown, it provides various community services for seniors in the suburbs in northeast Ottawa as well as downtown, she says.
Meanwhile, those who cannot afford to move and cannot access services nearby will have to commute to the city.
Not only does this put more pressure on hospitals and acute health care services, it creates challenges for seniors.
“You want to stay at home because you’ve always lived in a rural area but your services are downtown, like the hospitals and outpatient care,” says Dominique Paris-MacKay, who is leading the Age Friendly Ottawa initiative to make the city more accessible to seniors at the Council on Aging of Ottawa.
Seniors are Ottawa’s fastest growing population segment as the baby boomers reach ages 65 and older.
The number of seniors living in Ottawa will more than double over the next two decades, according to the city’s report.
The city has several issues to address in accommodating seniors, says Paris-MacKay. For example, there is a lack of affordable housing for seniors with safety features such as minimal stairs and grab bars in the washrooms.
Information about services needs to be more accessible as well, she says. Ottawa has a variety of services available, including those supporting aging at home, but seniors don’t know where or how to access them.
There also needs to be more programs addressing multicultural and multilingual seniors, as well as LGBTQ seniors, Kendall says.
Discussions about these challenges have become louder as Ottawa’s age-friendly efforts come under international scrutiny over the next few years. Ottawa is trying to join the World Health Organization’s Global Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities, which connects cities to share ways to better meet seniors’ needs.
“It’s about thinking about ways that we can adapt our environment, our policies, our services to an aging population,” Paris-MacKay says.
The WHO recently accepted Ottawa’s application. The city has consulted with seniors and must submit a joint action plan on age-friendliness with the Council on Aging of Ottawa by the end of the year, Paris-MacKay says. After a three-year monitoring period, the WHO will decide whether or not to officially recognize Ottawa.
Ottawa became interested in the network in 2009, but there are already over 500 Canadian cities and small communities involved with the network.
So far, the WHO has recognized Edmonton, Waterloo, London, Saanich in B.C., and Welland, Ont., as age-friendly cities.