Meeting for elderly's needs

Waimarino Bulletin, Volume 6, Issue 253, 2 August 1988, Page 11

Meeting for elderly's needs

A public meeting is to be held in Raetihi this month to discuss the health needs of people over the age of 65. The meeting is being called by the Wanganui Area Health Board's Health of the Elderly Service Development Group and is one o f several to be held in the Wanganui Region. The Service Development Group has been established to develop a plan for health services for people over 65 years of age. Having gathered information and discussed issues on a range of

topics (including education and information needs, the various forms of accommodation available to and required by elderly people, carer-elderly and elderly-carer abuse, community support services, the special needs of elderly people living in rural areas etc), the Group now wishes to consult with the various communities in the Board's area to hear what they perceive as needs and priorities for the health of elderly people in those communities. The Group is particularly interested in hearing from elderly people

themselves, people approaching retirement, people caring for an older person, and people and organisations with an interest in this area. In most areas local Community Health Watch Committees and Senior Citizens Groups are assisting in the organisation of the meetings. The Group hopes to begin to write up its plan at the end of August. While it will be broadly speaking within the framework of the Board's Strategic Plan the plan will need

to contain much more detail on what services are currently available, what additional services are needed, which groups and organisations should be providing the services and what priority each service should have Further information on the Group and on the public meetings is available from the Wanganui Area Health Board's Planning Officer, Kerry Hines. The Raetihi meeting is to be held Wednesday, August 17 in the Waimarino Club rooms, Seddon Street.