A new survey will give Sechelt residents aged 50-plus a chance to weigh in on how well the community is meeting their needs.
"We're trying to establish a kind of benchmark or baseline information around seniors' wants and needs," said Sue Jackel, team leader for the Sechelt Residents' Survey Project group, a recently-formed citizens group which is overseeing the project.
The project, she said, is motivated by census data which shows that half of Sechelt's current residents are 50 years old or more, making the community one of the oldest in Canada.
"The census showed us that we have a very high concentration of people aged 50 and up and it's hard to know how to plan for an aging population," she said.
And as the District's planning department didn't have time to orchestrate the project, she said, the Residents' Survey Project group formed to carry it out, with District support.
The idea and instructions for doing the survey come from The Geography of Aging by community planner Gerald Hodge.
"It's about helping small communities plan for seniors as the Baby Boomers come through the system," she said.
But while the book, she said, includes a survey used in the 1990s, the Sechelt project organizers have created a new survey to achieve the same ends.
"We took a look at it and decided that it was too long and too general and abstract, so we wrote our own," she said.
Key topics the survey targets are transportation, services and support, and housing.
Once the questionnaires are in, the information will be collated, analyzed, and presented through a variety of forums, such as a delegation to council.
Jackel said she hopes the project will not only collect data, but also generate local discussion about issues facing the 50-plus population.
As to what the survey will likely identify, Jackel said the jury's still out.
"We don't know," she said. "We've got some opportunities for them to say what they like best about living in Sechelt, what they think is missing or needs attention, and we'll find out from that whether there are any glaring errors."
The survey was presented at a launch event Wednesday, Nov.18 at the Seniors Activity Centre in Sechelt, followed by a delegation at Sechelt council that night.
The questionnaires are available online at www.secheltseniors.ca, or available at the following locations: the District of Sechelt's main office, the Sechelt Public Library, the Sechelt Seniors Activity Centre, Capilano University on Inlet Avenue, Vancouver Coastal Health Home Support and Seniors Information on Inlet Avenue, and the Seaside Centre. Questionnaires will probably take between 15 and 20 minutes to fill out and need to be completed by Dec. 10.
