Fraser Lake Age-Friendly Action Plan

Overview: The Fraser Lake Age-friendly Action Plan is a set of goals, initiatives, and actions that contribute to making Fraser Lake municipality an age-friendly community and region where older adults can “age actively,” living in security, enjoying good health, and continuing to participate fully in society. Some of the goals and completed actions of this Plan include: creating opportunities for seniors to participate in a range of social, recreation, cultural, and spiritual activities; ensuring community support and health services are accessible, affordable, and meet the needs of seniors; and including older people in all aspects of community and civic life. Strengths: The partnership between Autumn Services, the municipality (i.e., Village of Fraser Lake), the local United Way and the United Way of the Lower Mainland is a key factor in the success of the many Age-friendly initiatives taking place in Fraser Lake. The municipality supports Autumn Services in its service delivery for older adults and for age-friendly neighbourhood enhancements and provides in-kind support such as space and staff time. For example, Autumn Services works with the local Fire Department and by-law enforcement to identify the need for small home repairs and yard maintenance for seniors that can no longer manage on their own. Other partnerships also support the work being done in Fraser Lake that help meet the goals of the Action Plan: Fraser Lake & Area Men Shed, Royal Canadian Legion, Fraser Lake Medical Clinic, Northern Health, Community Paramedics, the Fraser Lake Fire Department, the Kinsmen Club, the Community Response Network, and more. As mentioned, Autumn Services also hosts the Better at Home program and the Therapeutic Activation Program (supported by the United Way of the Lower mainland and the Province), which provides older adults in the community with a variety of other services (e.g., light house-keeping, friendly visits, light yard work, exercise and balancing programs, and meal programs). Challenges: Of the eight age-friendly themes outlined above (e.g., social participation, outdoor spaces and buildings, etc.), Fraser Lake has identified three that require regional partnerships and solutions as they cannot be addressed alone: (1) Housing (2) Transportation (3) Community support and health services Local infrastructure projects such as building renovations and upgrades to public spaces are among the more complex projects to be taken on by Fraser Lake through their Age-friendly initiative, however, these remain within the scope of their Action Plan. Adaptations to Covid-19: The Age-friendly programming provided by Autumn Services and supported by the Village of Fraser Lake continues to take place during the COVID-19 pandemic: Better at Home services, TAPS, Higher Needs, meal and prescription delivery, food share deliveries, laundry services, friendly visits, and more. The community bus is also up and running under new COVID protocols. The current Recreation Coordinator had to step down due to the pandemic’s effects, however, as many in-person events are currently postponed, the existing support staff is managing at this time. The funding for this position remains in place and a new coordinator will be brought on post-pandemic.  

For more information about the Age-friendly Action Plan from Village of Fraser Lake, click here