By Kerri-Anne Mesner
RESPECT and feeling invisible were key issues raised by Maribyrnong City Council’s senior citizens during a research project for a pilot program called Active Ageing.
The local pilot program is part of the World Health Organisation’s Global Age-Friendly Cities Project, a research project to develop and promote age-friendly cities worldwide.
Draft project figures showed 41 per cent of people aged 75 and over in the City of Maribyrnong were living alone — double the Melbourne metropolitan figures.
Issues raised by senior citizens included feeling invisible in the community, lack of respect from younger generations, social isolation, lack of burial plots near home and public transport.
University of Melbourne McCaughey Centre Research fellow Dr Kathleen Brasher presented the report to council last Tuesday.
She said research showed that respect came down to how young people behaved on public transport and young people’s attitudes towards elderly when walking down the street.
“It stops people doing things when they don’t feel respected,” Dr Brasher said.
“One man broke down in tears at the beginning of a discussion … then the rest of the discussion group didn’t want to talk.
“They (elderly) feel invisible.”
Other issues included not being able to be buried near home and frail elderly on an accommodation waiting list for up to 16 years.
The issues came out of discussions with focus groups.
The report highlighted how the Maribyrnong City Council area had the highest proportion of population aged 65 and over compared with the rest of Victoria. It is the smallest and most densely populated municipality in Victoria with 64,000 in 31 sq kms.
Other key statistics, gathered from ABS Census 2001 showed 27 per cent of the population were aged over 50 years and 7 per cent 75 and older.
Dr Brasher said public transport issues were a concern for the aged in the former Sunshine council area.
Among the positives discussed were Maribyrnong City Council’s home-based services, which were highly valued by senior citizens.
Dr Brasher said that during the discussions some of the seniors said they did not want to mix with younger generations.
She said there were stories of seniors being moved into the outer suburbs by their family members away from homes they had lived in all their lives, only to end up being more isolated than before, as they were left at home alone during the day and they were too far away from their longtime friends.
Maribyrnong City Council is one of two council areas in Australia that has signed up to be part of a worldwide pilot program run by the WHO. The other is Melville in Western Australia.
The WHO project involves 33 cities in 22 countries, with the local project established by the Municipal Association Victoria and Council of the Ageing.
The most common worldwide issue for seniors is footpaths, with gumnuts causing havoc in Melville for seniors and Maribyrnong City Council’s footpaths being cracked and broken.
The report also showed the roles seniors played in their communities in different parts of the world with seniors in Africa being the principle carers for family members with AIDS.
The project will be officially launched in London to mark the Inter-national Day of Older Persons on 1 October.
