Waterford Age Friendly Alliance is delighted to launch a new Directory of Services for Older People in the City and County. This completes one of the final objectives outlined in its initial five-year plan to ensure that Waterford delivers on a commitment to maintain an age friendly approach to policies programmes and services.
The Directory will be launched by the Mayor of Waterford City & County, Cllr. Joe Kelly and Minister for Mental Health and Older People, Mary Butler, T.D. today (Wednesday, July 21st) at the Dr Martin Day Centre, Portlaw.
This Directory provides information on many of the essential services available for older people in Waterford City and County. It includes contact telephone numbers for HSE and other public services, community and voluntary organisations, and some community based social groups for older people across the city and county.
Michael Walsh, Chief Executive of Waterford City and County Council and Chair of the Age Friendly Alliance welcomed the launch of the Directory and thanked those who worked on the preparation. He said “This directory is a very good information resource for older people and a tangible output from the work of the Age Friendly Alliance and in particular the Communications & Information thematic sub-group whose efforts are to be commended in this respect.”
The need for the Directory was identified in the Waterford Age Friendly Alliance City & County Strategy and it’s compilation was facilitated by Waterford City and County Council, Waterford Libraries, Waterford Older People’s Council, Waterford Citizens Information and a range of other Waterford Age Friendly stakeholders.
The Age Friendly Cities & Counties Programme in Ireland supports the development of communities where people, as they age, can continue to enjoy a good quality of life and continue to participate fully in their communities.
The model is based on the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Age Friendly Cities Framework and Guidelines which were developed in recognition of the challenges and opportunities that societies will face as they respond to an unprecedented growth in the number of older people living in our communities.
Waterford’s Age Friendly Strategy was launched in 2017 and is centred on delivering on strategic actions around Respect and Social Inclusion, Social Participation, Civic Participation and Employment, Home Environment, Health/Active Living, Transportation, Built and Natural Environment, safer Communities and Communication and Information.
A key part of delivering on these actions was the formation, in 2019 of Waterford Older People’s Council which along with multi-agency stakeholders including the HSE, Statutory, community and voluntary agencies cross the City and County participate in the Age Friendly Alliance, bringing the voice of older people to the decision making process.
In early 2020 Waterford City and County was accepted as a member of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Global Network for Age Friendly Cities and Communities which was established to connect cities, communities and organisations worldwide with the common vision of making their community a great place to grow old in.
