Another age-friendly community has been named in New Brunswick.
Riverview is the 15th community in the province to receive the designation.
Communities across the province have received this designation since the program was launched in 2017, and many others are in various stages of the process.
“There is a committee, that is committed along with council to ensure that we have programs for the older population. That we have transportation, and housing. We can identify areas to accommodate the aging populations, whether it’s apartments, whether it’s multiple units,” says Councillor Cecile Cassista. “There’s a whole host of things that come into play. It’s also engaging seniors to make sure that there’s that social inclusion in the community.”
A large crowd turned out today in Riverview to hear the news.
“I was overwhelmed to see the turnout today. It was wonderful. Seeing seniors come out, and in fact, we had one person step forward who said they wanted to be on the seniors roundtable. So that’s really encouraging,” Cassista says.
The Town has an action plan that will help to guide the committee, that was one of the requirements that had to be submitted to the province to help them receive the designation.
“I think that Riverview has done a lot of things for the aging population and for all residents, but there are little things that we are missing. Technology is one of them. Seniors say they would like to be more involved, so how do we get the communication out to them? We need to talk about having a roundtable, and how we can do we do that better? We know there are seniors that are isolated in their homes. We need to do outreach and engage them in community activities,” Cassista adds.
To receive recognition, communities must have completed four milestones, adopted by the World Health Organization. These are based upon community engagement and taking sustainable action and include passing a resolution; establishing an advisory committee; assessing the community; and developing and implementing an action plan.
“We are so proud to be designated an age-friendly community,” said Riverview Mayor Andrew J. LeBlanc. “Seniors have helped strengthen our community since amalgamation 50 years ago, and we are pleased to continue to make great strides toward the well-being of our older residents.”
