Welcome to the 
Age-friendly Innovation Exchange Newsletter!
The International Federation on Ageing (IFA) is pleased to welcome you to the inaugural edition of the Age-friendly Innovation Exchange (AFIX) newsletter! 

It is the IFA's hope that this newsletter will be a forum for age-friendly experts and enthusiasts to share their work on all age-friendly topics, and for the IFA to share our collaborative work with the World Health Organization (WHO) on age-friendly environments (AFE) - including at the IFA 14th Global Conference on Ageing. 

The 14th Global Conference will have a dedicated age-friendly track to showcase significant AFE work and enable conversations about AFE among various stakeholders.  The IFA encourages the submission of abstracts on the AFE theme.  For more information on abstract submission guidelines, see below.

The IFA believes in supporting the age-friendly community to strengthen positive and reciprocal working relationships between those in the field.  As such, the IFA is delighted to present the AFIX newsletter as a knowledge exchange platform available to highlight work being done in age-friendly.

Thank you to everyone who submitted articles for this edition - the IFA looks forward to receiving informative articles for the AFIX winter 2017 edition!

Should you have any questions on the age-friendly work being done at the IFA, please do not hesitate to contact jrochman-fowler@ifa-fiv.org
Updates from the world of Age-friendly
A new evaluation tool for Age-friendly Cities & Communities

The recent increase in efforts by cities and communities globally to become more age-friendly has been accompanied by a need for robust and user-friendly evaluation instruments. Researchers from the Universities of Liverpool and Cambridge within England's
School for Public Health Research have developed an evidence-based evaluation tool for Age-Friendly Cities and Communities that is adaptable to different contexts. 

The tool complements existing evaluation frameworks, including WHO's core indicators of Age-Friendly Cities, through its focus on the structures and processes that create the conditions for age-friendly initiatives. Areas it examines include leadership and governance, resource needs and commitments, the contributions of older people beyond their role as service users, the nature and effects of cross-agency collaboration, and the extent to which age-friendly initiatives are informed by the evidence base. 

The tool is flexible and enables cities and communities to develop approaches to monitoring and evaluation that are tailored to their specific contexts. It provides stakeholders with an opportunity to work together with researchers to arrive at insights that can shape local-level decision making.

Following pilot testing in a small number of settings, the tool is currently being adapted to a focus on dementia friendliness. Through the
National Evaluation of Dementia-Friendly Communities in England (DemCom study), it is being developed into an evidence-based evaluation framework for communities seeking to respond better to the needs and priorities of people affected by dementia. DemCom is a collaboration of the Universities of Hertfordshire (lead), Cambridge and East Anglia, all of which are part of the Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care (CLAHRC) East of England. It is funded by the UK Department of Health Policy Research Programme.

For further information contact Dr Stefanie Buckner:  sb959@medschl.cam.ac.uk
Creating Age Friendly Cities through Older Adult Neighbourhood Based Recreation Programming

By Michelle Dellamora, Supervisor, Age Friendly London & Tracy Drenth, Supervisor, Neighbourhood, Children & Fire Services, City of London

London, Ontario has been a member of the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Network of Age Friendly Cities since 2010, and is currently implementing its second community Action Plan.

The Action Plan is being implemented by the Age Friendly London Network, a volunteer-driven group of older adults, senior-serving organizations, and City of London staff, who implement strategies across the eight domains of age-friendliness. Within the domain of Social Participation, even prior to joining the age friendly communities movement, the City of London was progressive in addressing the wellness of older adults.
 
The successful creation and ongoing management of the City of London's Seniors' Satellites, is an example of how London is fostering age friendly communities. In 2009, the City moved to a 'hub-and-satellite' model of service delivery, where the City's two larger Seniors' Centres are considered the 'hubs', and continue to provide a wide array of programs and services, and 'satellites' were created to provide access to services and programs at the neighbourhood level throughout the City. The Satellites are low-cost accessible neighbourhood recreation outreach programs, providing opportunities for individuals aged 55+, to meet new friends, exercise, volunteer, have fun, and learn new skills, all within close proximity to their home. To date, the City has created and continues to operate 7 Seniors' Satellites in 7 distinct London neighbourhoods. With over 450 active memberships, the satellites prove to be a success within London.
 
The Satellites are an example of how London is removing barriers to participation, and therefore enabling Londoners to lead longer, healthier lives.
 
To learn more about the Seniors' Satellites and how you can implement age friendly programming in your community, please join the City of London workshop at the IFA 14th Global Conference.
Intergenerational Age-Friendly Communities:  Circling from Global to Local and Back Again

While the "Boomers are coming" revolution was announced way in advance of its arrival, many systems from education through economic development had not adapted to the longevity challenge in this oldest area with the largest population of seniors on the East Coast of the U.S.   

In response, the Town of Yarmouth placed an Intergenerational lens on the WHO Age-Friendly Framework to create space for light to saturate local community institutions where hard earth exists.  

One innovation was to expand the existing Model United Nations process to involve older adults along with students in discussing big topics - water quality and ageism -- impacting both our local community and the world.  The Intergenerational lens was intended to combat ageism in both directions while empowering diverse olders and youngers for purposeful civic engagement over a lifetime.  

When we think global, act local, and then spread our learning globally, as we have done through the UN Working Group on Ageing and Model UNs around the world, we are revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development. We are actually "walking the talk" of continuous improvement found in the WHO Age-Friendly cycle of improvements --- and inviting discussion with IFA's constituents.
 
Prepared by Kathleen Bailey, Director of Ageing Services, Age-Friendly Yarmouth (kbailey@yarmouth.ma.us) and  Jan (Janet M.) Hively, Member of the Age-Friendly Yarmouth Community Team (hivel001@umn.edu)
Advancing the Brookline, Massachusetts Age-Friendly City Program Through Public Access Television

Because Brookline offers many age-friendly features, dissemination of information is a major challenge for its Age-Friendly City program.  The program had to find a way to gather information from all the town departments and organizations and inform town residents about them. Websites, a monthly newsletter, press releases, and social media were all deployed. Nevertheless, something more was needed.
 
To meet the need, Brookline Community Aging Network sponsored the development of an exciting local television show.  Age Friendly Cities TV (AFC-TV) is a bimonthly series focused on local government, volunteer organizations, Brookline senior events, and residents active in the Town.  Now in its fourth year, AFC-TV shows are available on the BrooklineCAN (Community Aging Network) web site, YouTube, the Brookline Interactive Group (BIG) channel 3 and web site, and the Town libraries .
 
The show's production team invited guests from Town government, the Senior Center and various volunteer organizations.  They included town meeting members, heads of town departments, the director of the public library, members of the town board of selectmen and its chair, the chair of the Brookline Commission on disabilities, the director of the senior center, a University of Massachusetts Boston gerontologist, the director of the new transportation initiative for seniors, TRIPPS, the director of volunteers at the Council on Aging, and others. While the goal of the TV show is to inform the public about the many age-friendly features of the town, during preparation guests and organizations they represent also become more aware of their role in supporting the age-friendliness of Brookline.
 
The town of Brookline, Massachusetts was the first community in New England to be named an Age Friendly City by the UN World Health Organization (WHO).
 
Contacts
Matthew Weiss  
mxweiss2@gmail.com
Frank Caro         frank.g.caro@gmail.com
City of Kawartha Lakes 

Over the past seven years the Age Friendly Steering Committee and two local action committees have worked collaboratively with other partners in the City of Kawartha Lakes to address issues raised in the assessment undertaken in 2010. 
 

Led by the Haliburton, Kawartha, Pine Ridge District Health Unit, the assessment was funded through a grant from the New Horizons for Seniors Program. In addition to responding to the assessment, other age-friendly achievements in the City of Kawartha Lakes have included several information workshops provided for adults 55+ on various topics of interest specific to them; development and launch of a newsletter in one community, spearheaded and supported initially by the local action committee and now maintained completely by a couple of community volunteers; implementation of the Good Neighbour Awards, which recognizes individuals who help to make their community more age-friendly through their actions; and the development of an AF Business Engagement Strategy, which identifies the particular needs of older adults and how businesses can adjust their customer service practices to better serve them, with several tools developed for use by the businesses.

The Age Friendly Steering Committee hosted a further community consultation in October 2015 to promote the project's progress, draw in additional partners, and identify new or emerging gaps.  The Steering Committee is now working to follow up on the information gathered and address gaps.  Also, while the municipality has always supported the project, more recently, they have incorporated several age-friendly objectives into their 2016-2019 strategic plan and the Steering Committee will be advocating for our community to pursue the World Health Organization's Age Friendly Community designation.

The City of Kawartha Lakes, located northeast of the GTA, has a population of 73,000 people living in a mix of urban and rural areas over more than 3,000 square kilometers. More than 20% of the population is over the age of 65 giving us one of the highest per capita older adult populations in Ontario.  
Age-Friendly Waterloo (AFW)
 
"The inception of our work (Age-Friendly Waterloo) can be traced to the 2009 World Congress of Gerontology in Paris.  A key message from this event was the need for supportive and enabling living environments to compensate for the challenges associated with aging.  This precipitated the questions - could adequate policies affecting older people result in conditions that decrease the risk of ageist behaviour and elder abuse?  The nexus between public policy and elder abuse and the potential for an age-friendly community to breach that relationship was the impetus
for our Age Friendly City (AFC) initiative."[1] The abuse of older adults, by someone in a position of trust, is a justice issue that requires micro (individual), meso ( organization and community)  and macro ( government and societal ) levels of response.  A key learning of the Restorative Justice Approaches to Elder Abuse Project is that to resolve and prevent elder abuse " legal, health and social services, and faith and cultural communities need to work in partnership....[2] Is an age-friendly strategy a promising way forward?
 
Our Multiple stakeholders committee is working together to ensure that all residents age safely, enjoy good health and participate fully in their World Health Organization (WHO) designated age-friendly community. A baseline assessment of the age-friendliness of our city was administered. A city-wide  action plan, based on the findings was developed. Operationalizing the on-line interactive evaluation platform is pending. Responses to the plan include: an older adult housing directory, a link to wwhealthline.ca plus, Supportive Housing of Waterloo plans to build a new affordable apartment building for senior:  http://www.showaterloo.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/2017-01-SHOWbiz-3.pdf

In keeping with our focus on aging and cultural diversity we are developing intergenerational programs for cultural knowledge exchange.  In June 2017, AFW partnered with the Elder Abuse Prevention Council to   co-host a forum focusing on the role of inclusion in elder abuse prevention.
 
While these appear to be key steps towards decreasing the risk of ageist behaviour and elder abuse , there continues to be a need to engage in research that examines whether AFC is an effective strategy for elder abuse prevention.

[1] Lewis, J. and Groh, A.  It's About The People...Seniors' Perspective on Age-Friendly Communities (2016) in Age-Friendly Cities and Communities in International Comparison ((Moulaert T., Garon S. eds.), New York, USA; Springer Publishing Company (International Perspectives on Aging Collection). 
 

Tackling Ageism in Ireland


Third Age is a not-for-profit Irish organisation celebrating the third age in life and the contribution of older people in their communities.  Third Age has a number of national programmes delivered by older volunteers.  One in particular - SeniorLine - a national confidential telephone service for older people, is a peer service, provided by trained older volunteers for older people throughout Ireland in need of company and support.

 

SeniorLine began almost 20 years ago when it was realised that many older people had little social contact in their lives, and used their phone rarely, as they had nobody to call.  SeniorLine began in a small way, open a few hours a week, and, without any publicity, received some hundreds of calls in its first year.  Today, SeniorLine is open every day of the year, including Christmas Day from 10am to 10pm.  Last year the service received over 12,000 calls from older people throughout Ireland.

 

People get in touch because they are lonely, isolated, worried, fearful, bereaved. They may be having suicidal thoughts or are experiencing elder abuse.  Volunteers are trained to listen empathetically and to support each caller in exploring their options and future decisions. Callers may also be signposted to a wide range of other appropriate services.  SeniorLine volunteers don't give advice or tell callers what to do, but callers still feel helped and supported through the conversation.  Some become regular callers, and say the service is their lifeline.  82% of callers describe the service as 'helpful' or 'useful'.

 

SeniorLine volunteers are excellent role models in combatting ageism.  Through their volunteer ethos, their ongoing engagement in life, their openness to learning new skills, each SeniorLine volunteer demonstrates the potential of ongoing contribution to society and community.  And, as with many similar situations, the giver receives.  Volunteers describe themselves as feeling fulfilled in their role, happy to give something back, being helped to transition into retirement, and warmed by the new friends they make within the Third Age organisation, and - through listening to callers - the deeper understanding often gained of their fellow people.

 

SeniorLine - When Listening is Helping Freefone 1800 80 45 91

Age-friendly Environments at the  IFA 14th Global Conference
Enhancing functional ability through age-friendly environnments - A primary focus of the IFA 14th Global Conference

Age-friendly cities and communities have the potential to shape not only the physical environments in which older people live, but also how older people interact with these environments to meet their needs. 

The IFA is interested in organizing transformative discussions at the IFA 14th Global Conference on Ageing by broadening the scope of age-friendly to include an examination of how the eight domains of age-friendly environments (outdoor spaces and buildings; transportation; housing; social participation; respect and social inclusion; civic participation and employment; communication and information; community support and health services) directly impact the lives of older people by enhancing their ability to do what they value.

The IFA is seeking abstract submissions to the theme of Age-friendly Environments that highlight enhancing functional ability as a primary motivator for establishing age-friendly environments.

Submissions of this nature will be from experts / organizations with the ability to demonstrate how the scope of their age-friendly work helps improve older people's ability to do what they value. 

The IFA believes that cooperation to improve the lives of older people must establish links between making an environment more age-friendly to discussing how those modifications can impact older peoples' abilities.

The IFA looks forward to receiving your submissions.  Should you have any questions, please contact jrochman-fowler@ifa-fiv.org
Attend  a Master Class

Master Classes are specialty day-long workshops lead by experts in the fields of research and innovation, which focus on some of the key challenges in the field of ageing today.
 
There are seven individual Master Classes, which will be offered on 7 August 2018, in advance of the conference. 

Please note registrants can only register for one (1) Master Class. 

Registration fee includes lunch and morning coffee.

The Master Class topics include:
To learn more about the Master Classes and to reserve your space, visit ifa2018.com . Spaces are limited!
Exhibitor Registration Now Open

The IFA 14th Global Conference on Ageing is a key platform for organizations involved in the field of ageing to promote their vision, services, and projects for current and future generations of older people.  In order to open the exhibition spaces to as many organizations as possible the IFA has implemented two price levels -  NGO/Non Profit Organizations  and Corporate Organizations:
  • NGO - $800 USD
  • Corporate - $2000 USD 
To download a copy of the exhibitor prospectus, visit  ifa2018.com.
 
For additional information on exhibition opportunities, please contact Mr  Greg Shaw or Ms  Tarah McMaster.
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