Active and healthy living
Through the Vancouver Food Strategy, we are increasing the access seniors have to fresh produce. New community gardens on City property will be built for accessibility. Caregivers for low-income seniors get free admission to Park Board recreation facilities.
We will partner to offer more dementia-friendly, caregiver-inclusive recreation programs.
Implemented actions underway
- Offer dementia-friendly seniors fitness programming at community centres.
- For example, Minds in Motion is low-impact aerobics for people experiencing early stage memory loss due to dementia, and their caregivers, offered in partnership with the Alzheimer Society of BC.
- Employ workers who specialize in serving seniors and providing recreational programming for them at community centres.
- Provide access to Park Board facilities for low-income seniors with Leisure Access Cards. The program is currently being evaluated.
- Provide free access for caregivers accompanying persons requiring care at Park Board facilities and programs. The program is currently being evaluated.
- Make community kitchens available in community centres for use by organizations offering intergenerational, seniors, and multicultural community food preparation programs.
- For example, Britannia, Hastings, Strathcona and Kitsilano Community Centres currently offer community kitchens.
- All community gardens on City property are encouraged to be accessible based on the accessibility guidlines. In 2015, two community gardens on City of Vancouver property (Beaconsfield Park, and Kensington Park) were designed with accessibility features.
- Carry out the Vancouver Food Strategy's food access initiatives. As community gardens on city property are developed, they all have been, and continue to be, provided with accessibility guidelines.
- For example, The Westside Food Collaborative is a mobile produce market for seniors.
- Share Community Garden Accessibility Guidelines with all new community gardens. Community food markets have increased from 9 to 14 over the past year to increase access to fresh healthy food close to home for seniors and low income families and others.
- Explore opportunities to expand seniors hub and program models, such as those developed at Kitsilano Community Centre, Kerrisdale Community Centre, and South Vancouver Neighbourhood House that include:
- Active programming for persons with dementia
- Caregiver education
- Caregiver and family supports
- On-going discussions with community groups to develop similar hub models.
Recently started actions
- Partnered with the Alzheimer Society of BC to deliver training in the Fall of 2015 to all Park Board seniors workers, seniors programmers, and frontline staff on making existing recreation programs more dementia-friendly and caregiver-inclusive.