Tools for Living Well Toolkit - Canadian Association of Occupational ...

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Chapter FOUR - Getting Started: Mobilizing Your Community
Tips:
Involving volunteers to
work with businesses has
advantages and challenges.
You should decide if using
Program Volunteers to work
with businesses makes
sense for your community.
Tips:
● When preparing presentations, it is important to keep in mind the target audience. For example,
when presenting to business groups you may emphasize the value of meeting the senior
consumers’ needs. But when presenting to seniors or veterans groups, it might be more
beneficial to highlight the benefits of assistive devices.
● Identify the two or three key messages you want them to take away.
● Provide your audience with stories and ideas that they can easily transmit to others. You’ll be
invited to meetings where you have 5 minutes to speak, others where you’re the main speaker,
and may be requested to speak for 30 or 45 minutes. Be prepared for a variety of situations.
Tools for Living Well
● Seniors are the target market that we are trying to get
businesses to think about. Having seniors provide the
messages you want out in the community may make
the resources more compelling. Seniors may have more
success at convincing a retailer that a senior might buy the
product if it is displayed.
However, working with Senior Volunteers may also present challenges.
● Recruiting and educating Senior Volunteers can be time
consuming.
● Senior volunteers may require a great deal of support, which
means time on your part.
● Senior Volunteers may take prolonged vacations or become ill.
3. Community meetings and
presentations
A key strategy for increasing awareness around falls and the benefits
of assistive devices for promoting independent living in your
community will be community meetings and presentations. These
can provide opportunities to garner support from community partners,
volunteers, and businesses.
As you consider community meetings you will need to be strategic.
Senior and veteran organizations might offer good venues. For
example, legions, senior centres or clubs. Other groups that you
may consider sharing information with include:
● caregiver groups (e.g. Alzheimer’s support groups,
Osteoporosis Society);