Candidates eye elderly vote

Caring for older people was, not surprisingly, the hot topic among local body election candidates at a meeting hosted by Horowhenua Grey Power.

The Levin Cosmopolitan Club was packed yesterday for one of the first candidate meetings in Levin.

Mayoral candidates Bernie Wanden, Victoria Kaye-simmons and mayor Michael Feyen each emphasised the importance of catering to senior citizens, while Midcentral District Health board and Horizons Regional Council hopefuls also laid out their priorities.

Three-term councillor Victoria Kaye Simmons said there were a variety of accessible facilities and services for older people in Horowhenua. She said ensuring transport for elderly was crucial, given NZ’S aging population.

Feyen said 34 per cent of Horowhenua’s population was in the elder category, in which he included himself. He said he would continue to campaign for a regularly-run commuter train to Wellington to allow older people ‘‘to get out of town and not feel imprisoned’’.

Wanden said Levin was an age-friendly community, but it was important the council kept working to provide quality healthcare and accessible transport, and to prioritise fixing footpaths around healthcare centres. .

Wanden acknowledged concerns about traffic through Levin’s Oxford St, which is part of State Highway 1, but said the council could only advocate the NZ Transport Agency to take action, as the road was not under the council’s jurisdiction.

Only four of the 15 district health board candidates – Lew Findlay, Shelly Warwick, Jenny Warren and Feyen – attended the meeting.

Findlay, a Palmerston North city councillor and Manawatu¯ Grey Power president, said he wanted to represent the interests of older people on the board because he was worried their interests got overlooked by younger board members.

Warren has been involved in the maternity sector for 13 years. She wanted to bring ‘‘innovation and energy’’ to the health board.she said she would take on the responsibility of finding out the needs of the elderly community if she were elected.

Warwick said there had been a steady decline of healthcare services in her hometown of O¯ taki and in Levin. She described situations where elderly patients had been discharged from hospital in the middle of the night with no transport home as a ‘‘balls-up’’.