The City of Port Alberni has been awarded a $20,000 provincial grant that will help identify gaps in services for seniors.
“What it will help to do is provide a baseline of what we have for seniors in the community and what we need; what is feasible to support in terms of getting developers in here for community retirement development,” Mayor John Douglas said.
“It’s really timely because a lot of the conversations we’re having with developers such as Berwick need this kind of information.”
Having concrete information about what services exist for seniors and what people would like to see in the future will also help the Vancouver Island Health Authority in terms of what they can afford in potential partnerships, he added.
Douglas did not have a timeline for when the study would be undertaken.
City manager Ken Watson worked with Barb Stevenson from the Alberni-Clayoquot Continuing Care Society on the grant application.
Douglas credited networking at the Union of B.C. Municipalities’ conference with helping the city land the grant. “I just happened to go to a meeting with the minister and he just happened to mention (the grant) was coming up,” he said.
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