Age Friendly
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Case Studies: Louth<br />
programme [defunct from December 2014]<br />
and the Louth Peace Partnership didn’t have<br />
older people as a target group. In one way,<br />
that became our advantage because we could<br />
write the agenda for older people on these two<br />
programmes,” explains Mary Deery. The Louth<br />
<strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong> Alliance met in advance of the<br />
programme’s official launch in the county. “We<br />
held a facilitated session to identify our core<br />
function which is to put older people at the<br />
centre of decision making,” says Mary Deery.<br />
How The <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong> Counties Programme was launched<br />
in Louth<br />
Rodd Bond and Mary Deery organised the official launch in the Fairways Hotel, Dundalk<br />
in November 2008. As well as introducing the programme to a wider audience, they<br />
used the occasion as an opportunity for widespread consultation around the eight<br />
WHO <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong> themes: Outdoor Spaces and Buildings, Transportation, Housing,<br />
Social Participation, Respect and Social Inclusion, Civic Participation and Employment,<br />
Communication and Information, Community Support and Health Services.<br />
About 180 people attended the launch. This included older people from local community<br />
groups, representatives from local businesses, churches, the HSE and the local<br />
authorities and the <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong> Alliance members. As it was the first county to launch<br />
the <strong>Age</strong> <strong>Friendly</strong> Cities and Counties programme, it also attracted representatives from<br />
Dublin including the Assistant Secretary at the Department of Transport and the<br />
national representative for The Atlantic Philanthropies. All those who attended partook in<br />
the consultation.<br />
After the official launch, Bond and Deery contacted a wide range of groups throughout the<br />
county to find out what older people wanted and needed most. “We held consultations<br />
with older people’s groups in Drogheda, Dundalk, Ardee and the Cooley Peninsula. We went<br />
to talk to people in retirement villages, nursing homes and in all disability centre,” explains<br />
Deery. This consultation process continued for the next year and was developed into the<br />
“Your Views” document.<br />
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