‘Working With Seniors’ video premiers
Saskatoon Police Service and the Saskatoon Fire Department have a new training tool which will help enhance community safety and service for older adults.
The tool is a video entitled ‘Working With Seniors.’ It was recently released to help train front-line police officers and fire fighters in dealing with Saskatoon’s older adult population, says Candace Skrapek, a volunteer with Saskatoon Council on Aging (SCOA).
“The purpose of the video is to raise awareness about how they can work more effectively with older adults.”
Skrapek says one thing the video addresses is how service providers speak to an older person.
“The service provider should face the older adult directly and speak slowly, clearly, and respectfully,” she says, “not talking down to them in childish tones. The video also reminds the viewer that as people age, many experience changes in hearing, vision and cognitive function. All this can have a bearing on how front-line officers and firefighters interact with them.”
The video also offers insight into ‘ageism’, which is identified by older adults as being a major barrier in receiving quality service. Ageism is prejudice or discrimination based on a person’s age, and plays out in being treated differently because of one’s age.
“Front-line police officers and firefighters need to be aware of ageist stereotypes and avoid them,” Skrapek says. “The stereotype would be the frail, grumpy old person who doesn’t have their full faculties.”
Skrapek says there is already training in place for officers in dealing with the general public, but this training video will enhance their skills when working with older adults.
The idea to make the video came out of a research project, The Age-Friendly Saskatoon Initiative, that was undertaken by SCOA in 2011 to focus on hearing directly from aging adults what it’s like to grow old in Saskatoon. The initiative used the World Health Organization’s model and heard from hundreds of older adults on eight different facets of life. The topics dealt with such things as housing and transportation to health issues, services, and respect.
“One thing that came out of the study was the fact that older adult citizens wanted to see better interaction with police and fire services,” Skrapek says. “In 2014, SCOA presented this particular study finding to the police chief and the fire chief. Both immediately took action, and a working group was formed with representatives from police, fire, and SCOA.”
A focus group was organized so Saskatoon Police Services and the Saskatoon Fire Department could hear directly from older adults on specific issues and come up with suggestions on how the issues could be addressed. Out of that came the idea for filming a video that would provide specific training in the problem areas identified.
Saskatoon Police Services supplied the resources to create the video, a ideographic to do the filming and editing, and a communications person to spearhead the project. Older adult volunteers and members of police and fire services served as actors, and five different interaction scenarios were filmed.
The resulting five-minute video, entitled ‘Working With Seniors’, was released recently and is already being used by Saskatoon Police Services at morning ‘Parades’ when a new shift comes on duty. It provides quick informational reminders for officers to take away and use. On selected days, a volunteer from SCOA is present during the showing. Saskatoon Fire Services uses the video during its orientation of new fire fighters.
“The most exciting aspect of this whole project was the red carpet gala that was held to release the video,” says Skrapek. “It took place at Preston Park Retirement Residence and was just like Oscar Night with a red carpet, fancy food and decorations, and introduction of the actors as they walked the red carpet.
“There were many older adults in attendance, and it was good to let them know that we were taking action on their suggestions, and that Saskatoon Police Service and the Saskatoon Fire Department are keen to work more effectively with older adults.”
‘Working With Seniors’ will be shown at the Spotlight on Seniors event that takes place on Tues., Oct. 3, 2017, at TCU Place.