The City of Merritt is in the midst of producing an action plan focused on seniors with guidelines for specific projects it can engage in.
Recently, the city’s planning and development department received a $20,000 grant from the provincial government to develop an age-friendly action plan intended to create strategies to help seniors stay mobile, physically active, socially connected and healthy.
The action plan that will be created will include an appendix of plans for specific projects the city can tackle to improve living for seniors, City of Merritt planning and development manager Sean O’Flaherty told the Herald.
“Otherwise it’s just a plan with ideas that doesn’t show you how to get it done,” O’Flaherty said.
He said the action plan is intended to specify design guidelines, how to go about conducting a specific project and how much it will cost.
City council committed $10,000 to help develop this plan, and O’Flaherty said he’ll be asking to include another $10,000 for this project in the 2015 budget.
The potential $40,000 price tag will be spent on costs associated with creating the document, such as consulting, writing, researching and advertising.
O’Flaherty said he wants to put together a plan that is ready to be implemented.
The city is currently searching for stakeholders who can provide ideas and work with the city on the plan.
O’Flaherty said he’s looking at organizations such as the Interior Health Authority, Rebekah Patricia Lodge, Nicola Tribal Association, Merritt Senior Citizens Association, Merritt home support services and the Florentine seniors home.
Groups like these will look into ideas surrounding deficiencies in Merritt related to senior citizens and what can be done to retain that demographic and attract it to this community in the future.
He said health services are usually the top priority.
“People want to go where there’s good health support,” O’Flaherty said.
The age-friendly action plan is expected to be done by the end of 2015.
