Elderly study to cover multiple issue

With an ageing population, Barbados must look at how to ensure that more of its elderly can remain at home during their twilight years rather than be institutionalised.

Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Kirk Humphrey said this must be one of the discussions coming out of the 2023-2028 National Policy on Ageing that will soon be placed in the public domain once again.

“We are in the process now of doing the elderly study. We have a very complex and completed elderly policy. We’re going to be taking that back out to the public very soon. We are going to be finalizing the drafting instructions for that legislation as well very soon, so we could expect the public to be interacting with that information soon.

“It looks at a number of issues across Barbados. One that I think is very important is how do we age in place, so that as persons get older, instead of putting them in institutions, how do we keep them in their communities, keep them in their households, keep them with their families or so on, to ensure that that becomes the general thinking of how we approach ageing in Barbados,” he said.

The minister made the comments before officially launching this year’s National Senior Games on Saturday evening at the Coles Building on Lower Bay Street as the first event – a Chess Competition – got underway.

Returning after a three-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the games will run from June 10 to 26, and with its largest budget ever of $350,000, Humphrey assured that there would be areas for everyone to enjoy.

Saying the response has been overwhelming regarding registration for the 15 sports, including the two new events, swimming and volleyball, he urged Barbadians to turn out in their numbers to support the seniors.

Reminding the public that the games will culminate with the track and field events at the Usain Bolt Complex, he said while the tickets are free, they are limited in their numbers due to the space constraints at the track. (JB)