A conference hosted by Communities Development Society (CDS) will explore new ways to support an aging rural population in Rocky View County at RockPointe Church Oct. 8.
Executive director Lori Kovacs said the conference would bring together local business owners, developers, government officials, health care providers and residents to share ideas and hopefully develop a plan of action.
“Right now, most rural seniors are forced to involuntarily relocate to larger, urban centres to access the housing and services they need,” Kovacs said. “We’ve started to get a lot of inquiries and interest from communities within Rocky View, as well as inquiries from builders, developers and planners who want to know the needs of these aging rural residents so they can start supplying some of those services within the county.”
Kovacs said the inspiration for the conference came from meetings with the Rural Seniors Advisory Committee, to provide a platform for all stakeholders to provide input into what options are available, what services are still needed, and how everyone can work together to provide these to seniors in the area.
“When we don’t have rural housing options, we have to leave,” said Phil Unland, Rural Seniors Advisory Committee member, in a press release issued by CDS. “It is a vulnerable time, when long-term neighbours and friends should be leaning on one another, not moving apart, and when we want to have the familiarity of our rural roots.”
According to Kovacs, the goal of the conference is to raise awareness about the challenges rural seniors face related to housing and local support services, and to explore actions and solutions to provide housing and other care needs for the aging residents within Rocky View County.
“Unless we start working together and change our attitude about these things, we’re not going to get anywhere,” Kovacs said. “Since land developers and builders are supplying the housing and services, we need to bring them in as partners so that we can fulfill the needs of our rural seniors.”
The morning session of the conference will feature a keynote address by Doug Griffiths, best-selling author of 13 Ways to Kill Your Community, who Kovacs said would share rural aging success stories from throughout the province. The afternoon session will provide guests with the opportunity to actively participate in workshops led by Griffiths and economic development strategist Chris Fields.
“The big issue we’ve seen in the county is there is no coordinating body bringing people together to have these discussions, and it feels to me like now is the time – we will provide the platform, but where the stakeholders take it is up to them,” Kovacs said. “It would be great if a group of people showed the leadership that we need to move this forward.”
For more information or to register for the conference, contact Lori Kovacs at 403-828-7826 or [email protected].
