Volunteers needed for older persons reference group

Published on 17 January 2018

Volunteers needed for older persons reference group

Horsham Rural City Council is working towards an age-friendly community, but they need your help.  They are seeking volunteers to form an older people’s reference group, due to commence next month. 

Age-friendly communities are places where older people live safely, enjoy good health and stay involved.

Council received a grant last year to support the municipality’s development as an age-friendly place and a series of consultations with people aged over 55 were held during July and August. 

Community Services Director Kevin O’Brien said that consultations were undertaken in Horsham, Natimuk and Laharum through sessions with community and partner agencies, clubs and focus groups.  Postcards and a questionnaire were also circulated. 

“More than 160 people aged over 55 participated, providing us with valuable feedback.  We were delighted with the response and sincerely thank those who provided input and arranged consultations.  Priorities and projects for phase 2 have now been determined, based on the funding guidelines and feedback we received,” he said.

Projects for phase 2 are to:

• develop and support an older people’s reference group;
• develop an age-friendly action plan with the objective to embed age-friendly environments as a “lens” for Council actions and planning;
• support the aged community to learn and sustain technical skills to access credible information and stay connected with family and friend safely in online environments; and
• ·optimise social opportunities and the use of community facilities to meet the needs of our aged community.

 Mr O’Brien said that the next step in the process is to form an older people’s reference group. 

People interested in participating as volunteers on the older people’s reference group need to be residents of Horsham Rural City Council, aged over 55 and willing to listen to a broad range of community views. We are asking participants to be available from February to October 2018 to attend a workshop, undertake age friendly cities checklists and make recommendations.  

“If you meet the criteria and are interested in joining the older person’s reference group, we want to hear from you now. It’s a great opportunity to work with Council and community members over the next 12 months as we work towards becoming an age-friendly community,” he said. 

People interested in joining the older person’s reference group should contact Janet Hall at Horsham Rural City Council on 5382 9777 or janet.hall@hrcc.vic.gov.au by Friday, 2 February 2018.