Mallow to become first North Cork town to see roll-out of county council’s Age Friendly strategy

THE town of Mallow should be turned into a model for the care of its elderly population creating a blueprint for other towns and villages across the county to follow.

That’s the view of Cllr John Paul O’Shea (Ind) who said that during his time as County Mayor he saw how successful the implementation of the council’s Age Friendly strategy has been in Kinsale.

“As a population we are getting older and need to be more age friendly in terms of the facilities we offer older people and there is nothing to stop communities across North Cork taking action to address this,” said Cllr O’Shea.

“In my view Mallow is ideally placed to adopt the Age Friendly strategy, given its close links and proximity to Mallow Hospital, the Primary Care Centre and many other services for elderly people operating in the town. Other communities can then use this as a blueprint,” he added.

Cllr O’Shea said he as pleased to hear the council’s Age Friendly co-ordinator, Aileen Hurley and divisional manager James Fogarty had commenced working on a plan for Mallow.

“I want to thank them for their help. James is from Mallow and I want to make sure that in his elderly years he is able to walk around the town,” he quipped.

Cllr June Murphy (Ind) said it was an issue that many councillors felt passionate about.

“An age friendly approach makes people feel more included and valued and I would like to see it implemented in communities across the region,” she said.

Cllr Gerard Murphy (FG) agreed, saying that one of the issues that needed to be urgently addressed under the strategy was the closure of rural post offices.

“I was at a recent Age Action seminar where of the key issues raised was the abuse suffered by older people, with one of the main sources of this abuse being the lack facilities for people to collect their pensions in cash,” said Cllr Murphy.

“Many elderly people are unable to use a computer to manage their financial affairs or understand bank statements so do not have full power over their finances. This over dependence on the banking system is not good. People would rather collect their pensions in cash and then plan for the week ahead,” he added.

Mr Fogarty said that given the aging population across the western world, communities have to implement and future-proof initiatives aimed at addressing the needs of the aged and those with a disability.

“This includes community supports down to practical issues such as public seating, dipped footpaths and the length of time traffic lights stay on to cater for people with mobility problems,” said Mr Fogarty.

“We are looking at implementing our Age Friendly strategy in Mallow and other towns across the county. We can’t do them all at the same time, but we will get around to all of them in time,” he promised.