Age Friendly team supporting older Mayo people in their homes

THE Mayo Age Friendly programme is delivering lots of positives for the county.

As part of their work, Ireland West Airport became the world's first age friendly airport.

And now work is beginning to develop Knock village as an age friendly place in which to live and visit.

Presentations on the Mayo Age Friendly and Healthy Age Friendly Homes programmes were given to members of Mayo County Council at their monthly meeting.

Under the Mayo programme, every library in the county is now age friendly and a range of intergenerational activities and social connections are being delivered.

Future plans for Knock village will ensure it is accessible and easy to navigate.

The programme is also looking to work with businesses in the county to make them more age friendly. And road safety for older people is another area to be addressed.

In another initiative, the Healthy Age Friendly Homes programme has two coordinators working in the county and it's a free service available to people over 65. Their work involves supporting older people to continue living in their own homes.

To date, they have visited 250 older people in Mayo, delivering 1,100 support actions. The programme operates on a referrals basis from the older person themselves, not cold calling.

An example of a project delivered is fire safety checks in older people's homes in conjunction with the Mayo fire service.

Issues identified in older people remaining living in their homes include transportation, rural isolation, home support services, fuel poverty and housing conditions.

Councillor Peter Flynn said the council needs to prioritise age friendly housing developments in towns and villages for those people wishing to live closer to amenities.

The challenge of moving becomes more difficult ifor people who wish to move as they get older, Councillor Michael Burke pointed out, and we all need to look at planning ahead, instead of leaving it too long to make necessary adjustments.