Updates from the world of Age-friendly
PAMI's Age-friendly Cities and Communities Program in Argentina
Submitted by Mercedes Renó, INSSJP - PAMI

Over the past two years, the National Institute of Social Services for Retirees and Pensioners -INSSJP-PAMI - of Argentina has been working alongside the Directorate of Older Adults of the province of Mendoza on the implementation of the "Age-friendly Cities and Communities" Program, in accordance with the visions and strategies of the Global Network promoted by the World Health Organization.

Currently, the Program is taking place in six municipalities of the province of Mendoza: City of Mendoza, Guaymallén, Godoy Cruz, Las Heras, Luján de Cuyo and Maipú. The technical teams have been working with enthusiasm on the different phases of the Program, participating in different workshops, designing and conducting focus group interviews, and are currently working on the elaboration of the diagnostic report for each city.

INSSJP-PAMI has been actively involved towards the correct fulfillment of the Program. We have worked with local officials to promote the community's participation and guided its representatives through the network's implementation process. Since INSSJP-PAMI is the national agency responsible of providing social and health services for senior citizens, we seek to become Affiliated Program of the WHO Global Network, articulating and promoting "Age-friendly Cities and Communities" and actively encouraging actions that respond adequately to the needs of the elderly in Argentina.

For more information contact: rrii.pami@gmail.com / lprezzavento@pami.org.ar
Connecting Low Income Older Adults to Social Participation Opportunities: Lessons Learned in London, Ontario
Submitted by Michelle Dellamora, MSc, Supervisor, Age Friendly London, Neighbourhood, Children, and Fire Services, City of London

The Age Friendly London (AFL) Network is implementing a community Action Plan to improve the age-friendliness of social and physical environments.  Within the domain of Social Participation, the Network works to enhance access to social and recreation opportunities at the neighbourhood level. This has been achieved partly through the City of London's Hub and Satellite Service Model - neighbourhood outreach programs from the City's larger Seniors' Centres.

London boasts a diverse array of social, recreational, and fitness programs for older adults. However, there are still many older adults who do not participate in any programs and are therefore missing out on the physical, social, and emotional benefits of these activities. In particular, older adults living on a low income may face barriers to participation.  The City of London and the AFL Network have conducted outreach to the 26 social and affordable seniors' housing buildings in London to improve awareness of existing programs and to identify barriers and enablers to participating in social and recreation opportunities. Many barriers were revealed, including lack of transportation, cost, and lack of knowledge of available programs. However, there were also enablers of participation, such as having programs in the building or nearby, accessible bus stops and routes, and having relationships with neighbours. This information is helping the City of London and the AFL Network to support social participation among low income older adults by reducing barriers and improving access to the Seniors' Satellites.

If you are interested in hearing more about the Seniors' Satellites model and lessons learned from neighbourhood outreach, as well as innovative programs from other Age Friendly Communities in Ontario, please attend our Symposium at the IFA 2018 Conference, entitled Southern Ontario Age-Friendly Network Part 2: Connecting Older Adults to Health and Community Services, Financial Entitlements and Social Participation Opportunities.
Support services and quality of life
Submitted by Pilar Serrano Garijo, City of Madrid

To guarantee the participation and evaluation of older people in the municipal services that are targeted at them (action related with line 1 "rethinking the governance model in an ageing city" of the Madrid age friendly city action plan http://cort.as/-0pdR ), Madrid city council continuously assess, gathering the opinions of the older people and of their caretakers, to find out what they expect from the service, how they perceive it and to what extent it responds to their requirements. ( http://cort.as/-0vhb ) 
 
In recent years, indicators on the fulfilment of the objectives of the various services and on the impact they have on users and caretakers regarding quality of life has been introduced as innovative elements.
 
92 % of the Remote Home Assistance users said they feel safer; 90% feel calmer; 56% feel less lonely and 86% said their quality of life improved.
 
71% of users of the Municipal Senior Centres stated that going to the centre helped them socialise more; 62% improved their overall frame of mind; 56% declared to have higher autonomy and independence and 59% said that their quality of life had improved.
 
81% of the Daycare Centre users improved their frame of mind; 66% improved in autonomy and independence; 56% improved their general health and 80% improved their quality of life.
 
73% of the Home Assistance Service users said they feel safer; 63% improved in autonomy and independence; 68% feel less lonely and 69% said their quality of life improved.
 
We also have to highlight the participation of the older people; through these surveys, they have provided us with 8.121 suggestions that have helped us consider changes and improvements to the provision of services.
 
Although it is not possible to immediately implement changes to the services suggested by users, gathering the opinions of users enables us to gauge the quality of the services. Improvements, with impact in quality of services, should be aimed towards a better life quality. ( http://xurl.es/a3xdk)
Tonomy Shop: A lifestyle brand for older seniors with reduced mobility
Submitted by Zahra Peal, Founder of www.tonomyshop.com, Montréal, Québec, Canada. 

Tonomy Shop is a consumer products brand which focuses on the needs of the elderly. While reduced mobility often means having to adapt to the use of assistive devices, we feel that there are plenty of opportunities to offer better and more empowering products for older adults. We are doing our part by applying the principles of universal design to the transformation of standard aids for daily living into dignified accessories that anyone would feel pride in using.
 
Universal design is the principle that all products in the built environment be aesthetic and useful regardless of the user's age, ability or status in life. This year, Tonomy Shop has applied this concept to its new walker and rollator tote bags. Features for these bags include an attachment systems that allows for the bag to be kept close at hand (no need to bend), light coloured interiors to make the contents of the bag easy to see, as well as a simple closure system. We will continue to develop and improve our products to better serve the elderly.
 
We are also collecting and curating ideas on positive outlooks in aging. We have continued to grow our blog Beautiful Autonomy, and Facebook page, with articles about fantastic initiatives and innovations that are improving the quality of life of older adults. This selection focuses on design and community, as well as society's positively evolving views on what it means to grow older.
City of Melville, Western Australia
Submitted by Deena Lazzari & Veronica Clarke, City of Melville

During 2016 and 2017 City of Melville established MAFAB, Melville Age-Friendly Accessible Businesses network. By working with local businesses and customers Council staff were able to establish that a significant percentage of customers visiting a local shopping centre had some sort of disability, including cognitive decline and were visiting the centre in order to meet both social and shopping needs up to several times a week. Staff also established that the businesses within this shopping centre had growing concerns about customers who were displaying signs of cognitive decline and wanted to learn how they could best meet their needs.
 
A collaborative approach, drawing together the expertise and goodwill from local government, local businesses, Alzheimer's Western Australia (AWA), volunteers and local people living with dementia was implemented. This resulted in outcomes that impact positively on the functionality and quality of life for community members living with dementia and their families/carers. All parties acknowledged the value in aligning the Age-Friendly Communities approach with Dementia Friendly Communities and the following strategies are a sample of what has been achieved:
  • Face to face training for staff in dementia awareness and customer service for many businesses including Apple
  • On-line training in dementia awareness developed for staff in cafes and other environments where staff work different shifts
  • Monthly Memory Café in a large regional shopping centre which has influenced four more being established in different communities
  • Monthly tours of the local art gallery with trained volunteers who share the 'experience' of the art with individuals living with dementia
  • Fortnightly Art and Music group for people living with dementia
  • A series of video interviews by people living with dementia, who contribute the ways they continue to live a good quality life within their community environment now displayed on a  web page 'Living Well with Dementia'
The City of Melville and Alzheimer's Western Australia are leading a workshop "Integrating Age Friendly and Dementia Friendly" at the IFA Conference in Toronto in August 2018 to share information about the effective integration of these practices.
Association Camerounaise pour la Prise en charge des Personnes Agées (ACAMAGE)
Submitted by Paulette Metang, President of ACAMAGE

An international workshop on aging and age friendly environment took place in Yaoundé CAMEROUN in March 2013, held by  the International Federation on Aging (IFA). During that event, ACAMAGE, an NGO in Special Consultative Status with ECOSOC/UN, working for the wellbeing of older people, had a presentation on ELDER ABUSE IN CAMEROON. Since then, ACAMAGE kept on using the fighting against elder abuse   a means of building an aging friendly environment, because a world free of elder abuse is absolutely an important  contribution to an age friendly environment.

Among elder abuses that are sexual, physical, moral, financial, the most common are physical and financial. So, even if our action involves all, we stressed on physical and financial abuse, and on older women accused of witchcraft. In fact, we work in both urban and rural areas by gathering stakeholders (officials, civil society, NGOs, older people networks, youngsters, private sectors, women...) very often in meetings, educational talks, individual visit to raise awareness all  year long on  elder abuse. In addition to this, we celebrate every year the United Nations World Elder Abuse Awareness day on June 15.

Furthermore, being always aware of what is of interest to them (older people)  is very aging friendly. That is why ACAMAGE has a publication named ACAMAGE Newsletter. Through this they know what is on  for  their rights, UN and other national and international related NGOs news,  sports, advices nutrition and  healthcare, intergenerational issues, national issues, active aging, social development, OEWGA.....
That is what is on now and we are looking forward to creating more and more age friendly environment.
Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan
Submitted by Hiroyuki Matsumoto, Kanagawa Prefecture

Kanagawa Prefecture is located next to Tokyo, which has the second largest population (over nine million people) in Japan. Last year, 19 of 33 municipalities in Kanagawa joined the global network of age-friendly cities and communities.

Japan has the highest proportion of the people aged over 65 in the world, and the ageing ratio of Kanagawa is expected to grow rapidly as one of the fastest greying prefectures in Japan. To deal with the challenges of super ageing society, Kanagawa Prefecture is promoting the "Healthcare New Frontier" policy.

One of the key concepts of this policy is "ME-BYO." This concept indicates the entire process of changes between mental/physical health and illness, which are regarded as continuous instead of dichotomous. Whatever the state of health is, it is important to improve it from that state. From this view, Kanagawa is making efforts to encourage people to change their health behavior.

The Healthcare New Frontier policy, based on this ME-BYO concept, focuses on extending people's healthy life expectancy and is in harmony with WHO's Healthy Ageing concept. Kanagawa Prefecture has sent a staff member to WHO on secondment and is conducting various programs with WHO.

With regard to Age-Friendly Cities and Communities, Kanagawa has encouraged its municipalities to participate in the global network. Kanagawa is working with the municipalities in various aspects, and the municipalities also have close regional and historical ties with other municipalities. This kind of close connection, with the campaign of the prefecture, led to 19 municipalities' participation in the network.

These municipalities are performing advanced initiatives in the current situation of the super ageing society. Therefore we believe that their participation will greatly contribute to the global network of Age-Friendly Cities and communities.
IMSERSO is the Affiliated body to the GNAFCC in Spain
Submitted by Maite Pozo, El Instituto de Mayores y Servicios Sociales (Imserso)
IMSERSO  (Institute for the Elderly and Social Services) is a public body under the Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, with competencies in the field of the older people and people in dependency situation.
In the framework of the Collaboration Agreement with the WHO in 2012 and renewed in 2017, it is the body in charge in Spain of:
  • Promote and support GNAFCC in Spain, facilitating membership of Spanish municipalities to the Network and the implementation of the Project in cities and communities.
  • Create a Spanish Network of Age-friendly Cities and Communities to facilitate exchange of knowledge and experiences in the creation of age-friendly environments.
IMSERSO offers cities and communities in Spain:
  • Information, advice and support to facilitate both the process of joining the Network to the interested municipal corporations, and the implementation and development of the project in all its phases.
  • Information and technical advice on universal accessibility and support products or technologies that facilitate personal autonomy and participation, carried out by CEAPAT (State Reference Center for Personal Autonomy and Technical Aid, under IMSERSO).
  • Training for municipalities who want to join the Network, through conferences, seminars and meetings and online training.
  • Support to cities and communities in the dissemination and visibility of the project in their municipality (using www.ciudadesamigables.imserso.es), social networks (Twitter  and Facebook), Blog, Newsletterof the Spanish Network).
  • Facilitates contact between Spanish cities and communities, and the exchange and dissemination of experiences. Organizes face-to-face meetings between Spanish cities and communities.
IMSERSO has had the support of the Group of Experts created in 2013 which keeps currently working. This group is made up of city councils, elderly organizations, associations and companies with experience in the design, planning and development of the AFCC project. The diversity in the composition of this group has allowed to have different perspectives that have enriched the work developed and its results and has facilitated public-private collaboration.
The work of this Group of Experts has had 2 main focus:
  • Development of support tools and recommendations for cities and communities.
  • Spreading and communication strategy, which includes the organization of Seminars in different regions of Spain (about 500 people have attended these Seminars), presentation of the Network in several events and publication of articles in different media in the field of elderly people.
Is Fall Prevention Part of Your Age Friendly Community?  
Submitted by Marguerite Thomas, Fall Prevention Community of Practice
Falls are a predictable and often preventable problem. Effective fall prevention initiatives are not just a health sector issue. It needs working together with organizations, professionals and volunteers from many sectors, older adults, and the general community. These connections and the ability to mobilize and share knowledge are offered by the Fall Prevention Community of Practice (CoP) via the Loop communication platform.

A Community of Practice is simply a group of people who come together to share a common interest. The Fall Prevention CoP began in 2010 with the goal to connect members to better meet the needs of their clients and themselves.CoP members commit to support and learn from one another and to develop new knowledge to advance the field of practice to prevent falls and fall-related injuries in older adults.

Sponsored by the Ontario Neurotrauma Foundation, Loop currently has 2000 members who connect electronically to work together, share mini-newsletters, webinars and library services. Loop members range from front line workers to managers, planners and researchers to provide updates on research, hands-on practices and resources, to identify learning needs, to share success stories and to plan educational events and initiatives.

The CoP strives to provide access to evidence informed and promising practices as well as information on effective implementation approaches. Although most of our members are from Ontario, we connect electronically all across Canada and internationally. During the past three years, the CoP has also brought together various partners to promote November as Fall Prevention month.

Help is available. Join us at www.fallsloop.com  or www.chutesloop.com for the French version. There is a lot to gain! For further information, contact the CoP Coordinator, Marguerite Thomas at marguerite@thomas.name.
Updates on the
IFA 14th Global Conference
Conference travel partners

The IFA is thrilled to announce that  Porter Airlines  and  Air Canada  are travel partners for the 14th Global Conference!  

Discounts of 10% are being offered from both airlines -  click here for more . 

 
 
Conference accommodation - Chelsea Hotel Toronto

Rooms for the 14th Global Conference are going fast! Rooms are available from August 6-10, 2018 at the Chelsea Hotel Toronto.  

Find out more about the hotel, and book at the group rate by clicking here. 
Correction - February 13 newsletter
In the February 13, 2018 edition of the Age-friendly Innovation Exchange newsletter, the article  Age Friendly approaches - the missing link was written by Guy Robertson, Director, Positive Ageing Associates. 
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