Gov’t to create more senior citizens’ villages

Government is looking to enter a partnership with the Barbados Association of Retired Persons (BARP) to create communities for the elderly through the restoration of several derelict public buildings.

Pointing to the Vauxhall Senior Citizens Village and the Soroptimist Village, Prime Minister Mia Mottley said it was necessary to get involved with non-governmental organisations to create similar facilities where elderly persons could remain active and alert.

“We have invited BARP to look at not just opportunities for daycare facilities … but we are also saying that there are too many old primary schools and old buildings that are sitting down there derelict across the country, that with the kind of cooperation between the Barbados Youth Advanced Corps and the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology and different other things, we can have partnerships to restore some of these buildings and make them available to BARP and also for the benefit of the Ministry of Wellness which is intent on putting also the exercise equipment in communities, so that elderly persons who may not be able to afford going to a gym but still need some strength training to keep your muscles going,” she said.

Addressing a press conference on Tuesday in the Ermie Bourne Committee Room of Parliament, Mottley said the aim was to ensure that such facilities were available within the island’s communities over the next three years. She noted that through funding from the Chinese government, this initiative will begin in St Michael.

“I’m not thinking of anything the size of Sagicor’s Estates, as that’s beyond our capacity. What we prefer is a series of smaller villages across the island, closer to the communities from which people come, and that way, we’re able to ensure that they are kept alert and active,” Mottley said.

Welcoming the opportunity to work with the Government on this venture, BARP president Marilyn Rice-Bowen also called for initiatives to help senior citizens “age in place”, where they can enjoy getting older around their family and communities rather than in nursing homes, including through the provision of subsidies and duty-free concessions.

During the press conference, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport and Works Santia Bradshaw announced that a paper had been taken to Cabinet proposing to increase the age for senior citizens seeking to renew their driver’s licences from 70 to 75 years.

“They will still require a medical certificate to ensure that they are physically fit in order to drive. We are also moving the age from 75 to 85 for persons to be able to have it renewed every two years and for those over 85, they will have to produce every year a certificate for renewal,” she said.

Bradshaw said she expected this matter to be debated at the next sitting of the House of Assembly.

(JB)