Councillor Don Palmer Providing Local Leadership & Working for You

The City of Unley is proud to be recognised by the World Health Organisation as an Age Friendly City and Community. We are actively working to enhance our commitment to this through a new Active Ageing Strategy to ensure our City is accessible to everyone, promotes health and well being and provides opportunities for connection, inclusion and contribution.

 

To support this commitment, a new Active Ageing Strategy has been developed in partnership with the University of SA. Integral to this Strategy is our principles that ageing is both a celebration and is intergenerational: everybody is ageing and cities designed for older people are great cities for people of all ages and abilities.

The draft Strategy was presented last night to Council for in principle endorsement to proceed to further community consultation. Feedback from the community will inform the finalisation of the Strategy which is intended to be presented to Council in September 2015.

This new Active Ageing Strategy is focused on creating an Age Friendly City by supporting and encouraging Positive and Active Ageing, where the City is accessible to everyone, promotes health and well being, provides opportunities for connection and inclusion including a high sense of belonging, meaning and contribution.

Something I picked up on some time ago that I try to remember and reinforce every day is that I am yes getting older, but not getting old. This is something I have adopted to help keep a positive mindset. When you recognise that from the day you are born you are getting older it helps you keep positive and accept the journey you are on.

This new strategy, which very much follows the paradigm of”thinker in residence” Dr Alexandre Kalache. Through his residency and subsequent report The Longevity Revolution, Dr Kalache reiterates the concepts of Life Course, acknowledging ageing is intergenerational, rather than a specific trait of the elderly, and highlights the importance of promoting independence and supporting people to remain above the disability threshold.

You will shortly be able to contribute to this report and how Council may contribute to helping you continue on your life journey.