Sudbury seniors looking to make city more age friendly

Sudbury's older population is looking at what changes need to be made to make the city more age friendly.

A group of seniors met Thursday to discuss specific issues they feel are important to older adults.

Barb Nott is the chair of the age friendly committee, which is a part of Sudbury's Seniors Advisory panel.

She says it's important for older adults to be active in their own community. "It serves the purpose of keeping them active instead of isolating them within their homes. And at the same time we've got seniors who could be excellent mentors to our younger generation."

Nott says issues like housing, health, transportation, communication and civic engagement are frequently discussed among older adults.

She says the committee plans to create a survey that will be circulated to seniors around Sudbury. It will ask what changes they would like to see in the community.

Nott says once the surveys are completed the results will become part of a preliminary report, which will be presented to city council on October 18th.

"I think there are some wonderful ideas that are going to come out of this." says Nott. "We're going to make sure that Sudbury is a place where seniors want to live and they can thrive and be a wealth of knowledge to the community." she adds.

Nott says becoming age friendly will not only appeal to those who are already seniors, but those who are approaching that age.

According to Statistics Canada, more than 20% of the population in Sudbury is age 65 or older.