‘It doesn't matter if you're senior or not’: Vaughan wants data input for an age-friendly city

City spends nearly $100K for its age-friendly community action plan

Yorkregion.com
April 14, 2021
Dina Al-Shibeeb

Vaughan’s deputy mayor, local and regional Coun. Mario Ferri, is 73 years old and says his wife doesn’t think he acts his age.

Ferri, who wants to retire in Vaughan, is the head of the city’s older adult task force, which began its work in 2018.

“What we're trying to do is to come up with what needs to be done to ensure that Vaughan is a retirement place of choice,” Ferri said.

By 2031, adults who are 55 and older are going to make up the largest portion of the population in Vaughan, representing more than 30 per cent.

The task force -- made of six-community members, in addition to Ferri and his counterpart, regional Coun. Gino Rosati -- has recently unleashed the City’s Age-Friendly Community Action Plan, requiring residents’ feedback.

Valued at $98,678.75, the plan will use J Consulting Group to conduct its data-gathering processes and engage with others to make sure that all the “components that make up the World Health Organization's definition of an age-friendly city are taken into consideration,” said Ferri.

“This consulting group will be speaking to individuals, organizations and the government, and anybody and everybody that will listen, to make sure that we have captured the essence of this undertaking,” he added.

A series of workshops will also take place to hear from the public.

Community members can sign up for the first workshop, taking place virtually on Tuesday April 20, from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Those interested can sign up online. Residents over 55 or caring for someone over 55, can also participate in an online survey. The survey will be available until Monday, April 26.

“I would encourage your readers to participate, it doesn't matter whether you're senior or not, because we all have parents, we all have grandparents,” Ferri said. “It would be great to hear from caregivers what we need to do to help the seniors. So, I would give a shout-out to anyone in the community to be sure to participate.”

One of the goals of the task force is to make sure that seniors can live in their homes for a longer period of time, Ferri explained. The need to have access to services from transportation to medical prescription is also important, he added.

“How do we help them access (services) so that their quality of life is not impaired, but enhanced.”

Ferri also wants senior to have the chance to share their knowledge base and skill set with new staff or people who need some assistance.

“It would give those retired seniors a sense of purpose again.”

How this will be done is still in the works.

ACCESS TO TRANSPORTATION, INTERNET

Maddalena Vani, one of the co-founders of Kleinburg Leo Club, gave a glimpse of what seniors face in Vaughan.

“To give you a little bit of background, we live on a rural road in Vaughan. So we don't really have all the services like access to community centres and stuff like that,” Vani said.

Her 89-year-old grandfather, who lives next door to her parents, sees transportation as a big issue.

“Obviously he can't drive,” Vani said. “It would be helpful to see more of that, transportation in our area, I should say.”

Vani -- currently living with her parents before she moves to Nobleton -- expressed frustration over her family’s hefty bill to have access to the internet.

“Oh my god, if I tell you, you probably can't believe us, but sometimes my parents pay $300 a month, I think that's our bill right now,” she said. “Because we don't have fibre optic, we have to pay a lot more in order to have reliable and high-speed internet.”