Roundtables for "Friendly Communities"

The Capital District Senior Issues Forum is collecting information about the experiences of the aging population throughout the Capital District in an effort to raise awareness of what needs to be done to create an "Aging Friendly Community". Forum is interested in learning what seniors perceive to be the ingredients that make a community (or village, or neighborhood or block) a friendly place to live; a place that is accommodating and welcoming and not fIlled with insurmountable obstacles to every day life. As you know there is a hig push locally and nationally for people to stay in the community and stay Oul of nursing homes and other costly facilities. We are interested in determining what it takes for seniors to live safely and happily in the community and how do we best define "community" as we try to age in place.

We have been conducting round table discussions with small groups of seniors asking their opinions about conditions that affect their daily lives. We found the conversations interesting and of course, no surprise, the seniors have loved participating "in research". Over the next few weeks, at the invitation of Edward Neary, Director of Colonie Senior Service Centers, Patricia Binzer will be holding several more round table discussions with seniors at various locations throughout the Town of Colonie and compiling the infonnation, with the assistance of Kelly Mateja, to be used in identifying some of the needs for future services for seniors in the Town of Colonie.

Dr. Binzer is seeking additional groups of Albany County seniors to volunteer to participate in this data-gathering project. The group could be a small social club, a church-related groupp, a congregate meal site, or even a committee from a townhouse development. If your group is interested in participating in this project please contact Patricia Binzer (518) 475-9001 or pbinzer@nycap.rr.com.

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