Concurrent Session:
Aging in Community through a SRV Lens: The Oakwood Vaughan Healthy Aging Initiative

Situated in central west Toronto, the Oakwood Vaughan community has a higher than city average proportion of seniors, seniors living alone, and seniors on low incomes; all risk factors for being displaced from the community as aging makes independent living more challenging.  The SRV lens can be used to design personalized supports that enable aging in place.  The non-profit, resident-led Oakwood Vaughan Community Organization subscribes to the philosophy of aging to the end of life at home and recognizes that support systems should adapt their service models accordingly.  There is concern, however, that the concept of “Aging in Place” can over-emphasize the dependencies and vulnerabilities of older adults. Hence, at this moment in time, the OV Healthy Aging program places its energy on “Aging in Community” and, to that end, has established a drop-in and activity centre for local seniors in surplus space available in a public school. This “senior-specific” program would seem to tread on questionable ground from an SRV perspective. This presentation will address this issue squarely in terms of a community development process beneficial to older adults in OV but also to the wider community of individuals and families at all ages and stages in life.