Over 30 people gathered in the Community Centre in Kilmacow last Wednesday afternoon to participate in the round of consultative meetings being held as part the Kilkenny Age Friendly Initiative. Kilkenny intends to become the second ‘Age Friendly’ county in the country after this programme was piloted in Louth.
The approach is multi-agency including Kilkenny County Council, Kilkenny Leader Partnership and the Health Services Executive. The meeting in Kilmacow which had attendees from different parishes in South Kilkenny was organised through the Leader Partnership and the Confederation of South Kilkenny.
The meeting was divided into three workshop groupings and each group discussed two different topics which impact on elderly people including housing, transport, isolation, communal activities and access to services. There was a plenary session at the end facilitated by Lyndsey Butler of the Community & Enterprise of Kilkenny County Council. She stated that all points raised would be included in a report that could be used locally but would also be used to inform the production of an Age Friendly Strategy for the county. People could get together at a later stage to discuss the draft of this strategy and to make submissions to it before it was finally adopted.
Many of those attending agreed to travel to the Consultation and Workshop meeting being held in the Ormonde Hotel in Kilkenny on Tuesday, 20th July. This meeting was to hear a presentation by Dr. Emer Ahern, Community Consultant Geriatrician, St. Luke’s Hospital. Nickey Brennan, former President of the GAA was MC for this meeting.
