The City of Casey is progressing well with its commitment to creating a more age-friendly community through the delivery of the Living and Ageing Well Action Plan 2023-25.
It has been over a year since the Action Plan was endorsed, which was developed with Casey’s 55 plus communities following a series of engagements to understand what was needed to live and age well.
The Plan takes a whole of Council and community approach, with teams from across the organisation working to bring the 49 actions in the Action Plan to life.
Some key highlights and actions delivered over the past 12 months include:
- Hiring Living and Ageing Well project officers who are dedicated to delivering actions from the Plan.
- Launching the Ageing Well Network, which aims to bring professionals together to collaborate and collectively respond to and plan for supporting older communities social and health needs.
- Hosting and organising activities with community and the organisation to increase understanding of ageism, its impacts and how to combat it. This includes ageism training through pop up stalls and virtual workshops.
- Including provisions into making open spaces safer, more accessible for passive and active recreation for older people through the Open Spaces Strategy.
- Establishing the Community Reference Group to help ensure the voices and needs of people aged 55 and over are represented in Council’s future projects and plans.
- Enhancing Caseys aged care meals and community transport services.
- Facilitating over 100 low and no cost events as part of the Ageing Positively Festival, to support participation and social connection.
City of Casey Chair of Administrators Noelene Duff PSM said Council has an important role to play in ensuring older residents are given the opportunities and support needed to be able to live positively in the community.
“During the first year of the Action Plan, more than 650 people were provided access to allied health interventions and over 400 older residents were supported to access aged care services and connect to activities through the Link Worker program,” she said.
“More than 3,000 residents also participated in our Ageing Positive Festival, as well as the plans for the Ray Bastin Reserve redevelopment, which has incorporated age-friendly principals to make the space more accessible, and will include Casey’s first seniors exercise park.”
Ms Duff said in the next 12 months, Council officers will continue to deliver on the Action Plan with the community.
“This will include raising further awareness about combating ageism and elder abuse, supporting older residents to prepare and be resilient to the impacts of climate change, improving accessibility of council facilities including the website and encouraging the community to be physically active,” she said.
