‘Age-friendly borough’ action plan for Mid and East Antrim with £45k funding

Mid and East Antrim Borough Council is set to become an ‘Age-Friendly Borough’.
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The council is to employ a co-ordinator and draw up a three-year action plan to drive the initiative forward with funding of £45,000 provided by the Public Health Agency.

The local authority will be required to make a public commitment to becoming an ‘Age-Friendly Borough’. It has already been working towards becoming ‘Dementia-Friendly’.

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Almost 100 people representing 42  businesses in Larne have taken part in training to help make the town a ‘Dementia Friendly’ community.

Mid and East Antrim's Dementia Champion Ald Gerardine Mulvenna.Mid and East Antrim's Dementia Champion Ald Gerardine Mulvenna.
Mid and East Antrim's Dementia Champion Ald Gerardine Mulvenna.

A virtual programme of events for the town’s ‘This is Me’ dementia-friendly choir was organised  as “an urgent response to provide a continuity of care and social connectedness” during the Covid pandemic, according to the borough’s dementia champion, Coast Road Alliance Alderman Gerardine Mulvenna.

Also during the Covid pandemic through the Mid and East Antrim Agewell Partnership, vulnerable residents, in association with the local authority, received support through meal provision and access to services.

Commenting on the new project, Ald Muvenna said: “I am absolutely delighted to see this initiative coming forward and certainly welcome it. I am glad to see plans to extend the dementia-friendly initiative in Larne right across the borough.”

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An ‘Age Friendly’ programme recognises the rights of older people to “equal opportunities  all aspects of life to help them stay healthy and active and to continue to have a voice about the decisions and services that will impact them”.

Mid and East Antrim was the last council in Northern Ireland to take up the PHA funding.

Michelle Weir, Local Democracy Reporter

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Click here to read: Mid and East Antrim Borough seeking ‘Autism Friendly’ status

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