The following info is specifically about the Toronto Project. For
information about the other projects please go to
http://www.utoronto.ca/seniors
Improving Seniors' Quality of Life
Améliorer la qualité de vie des aînés
Halifax Québec Montréal Ottawa Toronto Regina Whitehorse Vancouver
Quality of Life Research Unit
University of Toronto
100 College St.
Suite 511
Toronto
M5G 1L5
tel: (416) 978-1101
fax: (416) 946-3680
email: [log in to unmask]
The Project
Improving the Quality of Life of Seniors is a participatory project
designed to provide urban seniors across Canada with a forum to address the
issues that affect their health and well-being.
Funded by Health Canada in recognition of the International Year of Older
Persons (1999), this national project consists of locally directed
satellite projects in 8 Canadian cities. The project began in April of 1999
and ends in March of 2001.
In each city, a Seniors Coordinating Committee and a university
co-investigator collaborate to carry out the work. Many of the local
projects also have an Advisory Committee made up of representatives from
seniors organizations, to provide guidance and direction.
Project Goals
1. To collect information about issues that are of concern to seniors
2. To explore the relationship between these issues and public policy
3. To take action based on the first two goals
The Key Issues
In the fall of 1999, the Toronto advisory and coordinating committees,
along with individual seniors, identified 9 topics of discussion for our
Toronto focus groups:
1. Access to information
2. Acute illness and injury
3. Cultural issues
4. Hearing seniors' voices
5. Housing
6. Income and benefits
7. Long term health care
8. Promoting healthy lifestyles
9. Transportation and mobility
Four Questions
The focus groups addressed four questions in relation to these topics:
1. What policy decisions made by governments are affecting seniors'
quality of life?
2. How do these decisions affect the quality of life of seniors?
3. What influences are leading governments to make these decisions?
4. What responses to these decisions might be made?
How You Can Participate
We want to hear from seniors, seniors organizations, and service agencies.
If you are a member of an organization or service provider, you may wish to
have your group become an Associate Organization.
Information about the role you would play in spreading the word about this
project and taking action to implement its findings is found on our website.
We also need your help in collecting written materials related to the nine
issues identified as influencing seniors' quality of life. If you know of
any such materials, please contact us.
Visit us at www.utoronto.ca/seniors On the "focus groups" page, you will
find summaries of the discussions held in Toronto and a ‘comments' section
in which you can enter your views.
If you don't have access to the internet you might also contribute by
contacting us and/or sending us your written comments.
Your Comments
The issues I am commenting on are:
___ Access to information ___ Acute illness and injury
___ Cultural issues ___ Hearing seniors' voices
___ Housing ___ Income and benefits
___ Long term health care ___ Promoting healthy lifestyles
___ Transportation and mobility ___ Other (please specify)
________________________________________
Contact Us
Ivan Brown, Project Manager
(416) 978-1101
[log in to unmask]
Bev McClelland, Co-chair
Toronto Coordinating Committee
(416) 481-6374
Dennis Raphael
University of Toronto
(416) 978-7567
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To find out more about our project, visit our website:
www.utoronto.ca/seniors
Visit our Web Site for information about our Seniors Participatory and
Community Quality of Life Projects! Free Reports Also.
http://www.utoronto.ca/qol http://www.utoronto.ca/seniors
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Long have I looked for the truth about the life of people together.
That life is crisscrossed, tangled, and difficult to understand.
I have worked hard to understand it and when I had done so
I told the truth as I found it.
- Bertolt Brecht
********************************************************************
Dennis Raphael, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Associate Director,
Masters of Health Science Program in Health Promotion
Department of Public Health Sciences
Graduate Department of Community Health
University of Toronto
McMurrich Building, Room 101
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M5S 1A8
voice: (416) 978-7567
fax: (416) 978-2087
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
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