By Riley Murphy

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

“People are living longer, but not everyone is living well,” said Juliet Jackson, Director of Culture and Inclusion at Peel

She was the keynote speaker at Peel Council on Aging's 3rd Annual Summit on Aging in Caledon.

The event featured multiple speakers, interactive discussions, and panel presentations focused on supporting safe, inclusive, and age-friendly communities across the Region of Peel.

This year's theme was Safety First: prioritizing safety, recognizing risks, and taking action. 

Tanya Vintimilla, Peel Council on Aging Coordinator, shared that with times changing all around us, they wanted to do a theme this year that came naturally: safety.

Presentations were held regarding home and fire safety, medication management, elder abuse: fraud and financial exploitation, and safety and accessibility: living with vision loss.

Vintimilla said they very much wanted to ensure they had the expert featured for elder abuse: fraud and financial exploitation.

She said since there are so many ways to commit fraud, such as texts and emails, it was a prevalent theme that they wanted to incorporate.

The day started with 295 people registered for the summit, and Vintimilla said she was sure by the end of the day, they'd hit capacity at 300 with some walk-ins.

“It just feels that people really do care about healthy aging,” said Vintimilla. “We're all going to go through the same process of life.”

“People that are young need to understand that healthy aging is for everyone, we're all going to age, so make it important, make it a priority.”

At the event, various booths were available to educate residents on the services available to them.

One of those booths was for Abbeyfield Caledon.

They are a non-profit senior residence that provides companionship and nutritious meals for independent seniors in an affordable family setting.

Gord Gunning, President and Board Chair for Abbeyfield Caledon, shared they were there in hopes of attracting more seniors to Abbeyfield, as they're also hoping to build a second Abbeyfield someday here in Caledon.

He shared the overall collaboration drew them to the event.

“It's the synergy of a number of different providers to provide care to seniors or services to seniors,” said Gunning. “Seniors are growing and anything that any of us can do to support seniors aging in place is why we're here.”

Hon. Raymond Cho, Ontario's Minister for Seniors and Accessibility, spoke at the panel to discuss the importance of senior equity living centers.

He shared a story of a woman who was struggling after losing her husband. 

She began participating in activities at the senior equity living center thanks to her friends. 

Not only did she make new friends, but she also shared she felt incredibly happy again.

Part of Juliet Jackson's keynote speech was about keeping in touch with those around us and the services that keep us so involved and active.

She spoke about how to age gracefully with humour and honesty, and she got a few laughs of her own during her speech.

Jackson shared that if everyone could take one message home that day, it would be to “Live every day with gratitude and blessings.”

Councillor Mario Russo, Acting Mayor at the event, said many of the services and activities Jackson shared during her speech were available to Caledon seniors through the many services and groups in the Town.

“Caledon is committed to advancing age-friendly policies and working closely with our regional partners to support older adults. I'm especially proud of the work that our regional staff is doing on this, but I'm also very impressed with the age-friendly Caledon and the efforts we're making and the real difference in our community,” he said.