RICHMOND COUNTY: Older adults living in Richmond County have an opportunity to participate in an important research study by taking part in a one-hour conversation about what they need to live well in their local community.
According to a press release issued by ACTing Collectively, individuals interviewed will receive a list of local resources they can then contact to address their needs.
Recruitment of participants aged 65 years and older is now underway, said ACTing Collectively. All interviews are confidential, can be offered in English to French, and will be carried out over the coming months by telephone, using zoom or another virtual platform, or in person, by several local people from Richmond County who were recruited as assessors, they said.
During the interview, ACTing Collectively said participants will be invited to talk about their needs and the resources that would help them stay in their homes.
The Dr. Kingston Memorial Community Health Centre is managing the project on behalf of the Municipality of the County of Richmond, noted ACTing Collectively.
According to ACTing Collectively, Richmond Warden Amanda Mombourquette was keen to have Richmond County participate in this important research.
“With 30 per cent of our residents 65 and older, and our recent commitment as part of our Strategic Plan Refresh to use an age friendly approach, this project is timely,” she said in the release. “Our shared goal is to support older adults to live at home longer, healthier, and more independently with community supports and services in place to meet their needs.”
Three communities in Cape Breton are collaborating with researchers at Dalhousie University to understand what community-based programs and services older adults need to age well at home, ACTing Collectively stated. In addition to Richmond County, Victoria County and Cape Breton Regional Municipality are also taking part, they said, noting that other partners include Nova Scotia Health, the Department of Seniors and Long-term Care, the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) Nova Scotia Chapter, Building Research for Integrated Primary Healthcare in Nova Scotia (BRICNS), and Northwood Corporate.
“The Dr Kingston Memorial Community Health Centre is pleased to have been asked to be involved in this project, community-level data is needed to identify gaps in services designed to promote and support the well-being of older adults in Richmond County,” says Juanita Mombourquette, Chair of the Dr. Kingston Community Health Centre Board of Directors.
At the conclusion of the study, ACTing Collectively said the information on needs and available resources will be analyzed, summarized, and presented to the local community leaders and decision-makers. This will provide locally gathered information needed to create services and resources for older adults living in local communities, they said.
“This is more than a research project – it is a partnership with communities to identify the concerns of older Nova Scotians and what resources are available to meet those needs. We are collaborating with multiple partners to improve supports for older adults in our province,” says Dr. Grace Warner, co-Principal Investigator on the project and professor in the School of Occupational Therapy at Dalhousie University.
The ACTing Collectively project team has collaborated with 211 Nova Scotia and local community advisory committees to create a list of local resources and services in each community. Using an innovation tool called Age Care Technology (ACTTM), they said older adults will be interviewed to identify their personal concerns related to well-being, independence, social connection, and health. The ACTTM tool will link the appropriate resources with each older adults’ prioritized concerns, they noted. They went on to say that an individualized list of selected community resources and their contact information will be provided to older adults at the end of the interview.
Within each community lists of identified needs and available resources will be aggregated by Dalhousie researchers to create community profiles, said ACTing Collectively. They said these profiles will be shared with local communities, policymakers, and planners to examine what community resources are available and what resources need to be developed to help older adults age well in their communities.
To know more about this project or express an interest in becoming a participant, ACTing Collectively adding that those interested can email: actns@dal.ca or contact the local coordinator, Jennifer Tanner at the Kingston Centre by calling her at 902- 587-2800 or by email at: jennifertanner.dkmchc@gmail.com.