Nakusp is in the process of making the village more age-friendly. A working group headed by Corinne Tessier of Affirming Workplace Solutions Inc. will prepare an assessment and guidelines regarding age-friendly things that could be done to the village council of Nakusp and the public in the spring of next year.

“The World Health Organization (WHO) had a gerontology conference in 2005 and this whole idea of an age-friendly assessment and guidelines for communities came up,” says Tessier. “It was taken up in B.C. who has been quite a strong advocate of it, and UBCM, with support from the Ministry of Community Services, gave some grants out for communities to apply to so they can have some money to do those assessment and prepare guidelines for their community.”

The assessments are based off those given by the WHO in form of a checklist, one which assesses how age-friendly a community is and shows where is it possibly lacking.

“When I say age-friendly, the particular focus here is on age-mature people. We’re looking, I’m reluctant to use the word seniors, because we’re all aging, but age-mature people are growing in this community,” says Tessier, who notes from the years 2001 to 2006, the residents over the age of 45 increased from 45 to 51 per cent.

“We have to figure out how to keep these people involved, participating and contributing both economically and in a social capacity in the community,” she says. “So, the focus is on the people that are age-mature, however, the process is only effective if it integrates all the ages in the community. There’s a particular emphasis on making sure a balance is kept. You don’t start developing things for older people to the exclusion of other people.”

The committee, which included Nakusp village councillor Ulli Mueller, Don Lindsay, Linda Gold, Marilyn Boxwell, Ray Blanchette, Susan Gustafson, Trish Canon and Corinne Tessier, met for the first time last week and the first steps in the process have begun.

“The first thing we’re going to do is review the OCP of the village and any other major plans, like the tourism plan, to see if the planning in the area is age-friendly,” says Tessier. She adds the committee is also going to prepare a survey and invite a diverse group of local seniors, at least ten per cent and as many as 30 per cent, from not just not Nakusp but surrounding areas to comment on what their perception is of how age-friendly the village is already.

“Then we’re going to analyze the results and it will prepare a full assessment and deliver it to village council and in a public meeting,” she says. The assessment will also be given to local businesses and agencies to ensure they understand what the project is about and to encourage them to participate.

“It’s going to help the whole village,” says Tessier. “Not just mature people.”