The Supports and Services subcommittee of the Chestermere Council Task Force for Seniors were presented the range of resources seniors in the community need as part of the Aging and Engaging event on June 12th at the Chestermere Whitecappers facility.
More than 50 seniors shared their opinions in what support and services they would like to see developed or enhanced in Chestermere, including transportation services, entertainment, recreation, volunteer opportunities, and meaningful ways to stay connected and active in the community.
“We didn’t want to go down different paths until we had talked to the seniors in the community to get their feedback and opinions,” said Chestermere City Councillor, and Supports and Services Co-Chair Michelle Young.
“We needed to find out the things seniors thought the community needed, instead of us sitting around assuming that we knew what they wanted,” Young said.
Throughout the evening, Young heard comments about making any information seniors need to access more readily available, along with proposals for a possible property tax or utility discount.
“There were definitely good discussions. It was a really good night,” Young said.
The Aging and Engaging event did exactly what it was supposed to do, as seniors of all ages attended, Young said.
She added, “It was a healthy blend of different ranges of that age group. We heard what a 57-year-old might need as opposed to an 87-year-old.”
The next steps for the Supports and Services subcommittee are to create a report based off of what was obtained during the Aging and Engaging event and present it back to council.
“The goal of the evening for our subcommittee was to obtain the information to enable us to create a report to advise council of the gaps in supports and services that need to be addressed in the community,” Young said.
The Supports and Services subcommittee will work towards finding short-term quick fix solutions while larger projects are also being identified and completed.
Supports and services that are already in the community were also identified during the event.
“Some people were shocked to find out that through the Food Bank we have a Meals on Wheels program partnered with Calgary,” Young said.
Moving forward, the Supports and Services subcommittee is working to identify what is missing and determine how to bring those services to Chestermere to assist seniors.
“Collaboration is key. When the gaps are identified, if there are people in our community that feel like they could help fill the gap, that would really be amazing,” Young said.
Without the support of the community, the other Council Task Force on Seniors subcommittees, and city administration, the Aging and Engaging event wouldn’t have been possible.
“A big thank you to everybody who came out and to the rest of the subcommittee, they really did roll up their sleeves and put a lot of effort into this,” Young said.
She added, “Great things happen when people get together and talk, and that absolutely happened last night.”
