Design and Develop

Description of the project and the local area

We have a lot of information available about our target group:

• We conducted a survey called ‘survey for the needs of seniors’ (‘Seniorenbehoeftenonderzoek’). With the answers of more than 400 respondents, we have an exceptionally broad overview of the needs of elderly people in our city.
• Focus groups and interviews carried out among intermediary organisations that daily interact with the target group

Assets and resources

The results of the survey for the needs of seniors (‘Seniorenbehoeftenonderzoek’), together with the results of the survey Come Out of Your Shell were rich and reliable sources of information for revealing the needs of the elderly people in the city of Ostend. A broad basis was set, out of which we are able to operate.

Our team has a lot of expertise: having long-time experience with the target group, especially our project manager. Furthermore we can fall back on the experiences in movement and opportunities towards the target group of our sports department and in detecting them with the help of our service centers.

Geographical setting

The city center district of Ostend is our testing ground, our lab. It’s the beating heart and the touristic centre of the City and has a surface of 0,75 m². With 9.497 inhabitants per square kilometre, the city center is 21 times more populated than the region Flanders, in which it is located.

The city center district harbors 2 service centers: service center ‘De Boeie’ and service center ‘Oud-Hospitaal’.

Why did we choose this urban area? From the survey for the needs of seniors (cf. supra) we determined that older people in the city center district move less compared to their peers in the other districts/neighborhoods of the city because everything (for example shops) is close by and there are no sports facilities. Furthermore they are the most difficult population group to stimulate to move more and to reach out to.

Current situation

Currently there are no preventive actions for the target group aged 60 – 80 years, nor are there any mobility stimulation offers for people aged 80+ in the city centre district of Ostend. Our project is totally new, so we’re starting from scratch. Due to the survey for the needs of senior (‘Seniorenbehoeftenonderzoek’) several ideas came forward, which were later discussed in the focus group. Subsequently, we discussed the planned actions in greater depth with all stakeholders separately.

Demand

·    Being active: seniors made it clear that they want to make use of sporting facilities (mobility offers), that they want to exercise.

·    Social interaction/involvement: furthermore, there is a need for social interaction. It’s the number one priority of almost every senior. They want to chat and laugh with each other, have a good time and get to know each other.

Expansion

Are you planning to expand an already-successful project with a different population or in a different setting? Please describe your reasons for this and what information you used to inform your decision?

Information capture for your project

The attendance list for the ‘Silver Sessions’ works threefold.

At the beginning of each ‘Silver Session’ the participants receive an attendance list on which they write their name, their date of birth, their signature and their permission to let us take pictures or any other kind of video material in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Due to this attendance list we also receive an overview or summary of all our participants and their age. Furthermore, as all participants are insured during the sessions, we’re in line with our obligations towards the sports insurance.

Next, the collected attendance details are merged into a file. This way we keep an eye on the numbers of attendance and the average age.

Photos and videos are used for the webpage, the general newsletter of the SAIL project and our annual progress report.

We regularly ask the opinions of the participants for improvement and their recommendations. This feedback is essential to monitor the process as well as to develop and to keep improving.

The ‘Silver Routes’ are a lot harder to track. The brochure is available in public buildings, local service centres, pharmacies, service flats, residential care centres, health insurances and other places where seniors frequently come across. In addition, the Silver Routes are also digitally available on our webpage. Already 11.000 copies are distributed and the term ‘Silver Routes’ is gradually getting established in the target group and, even more, in the city of Ostend.

Acceptability

As seniors in Ostend are omnipresent in population statistics (27,6%) and as they are an age category that policy of today should certainly take into account, the proposed actions of the project received very positive feedback from intermediary organisations and policy makers from in and around the City. We received these positive comments on various occasions (stakeholder meetings, focus groups, informal network moments, by e-mail, …).

Furthermore, we received positive comments from the target group. These remarks play a vital role in the practical implementation of our concept and are extremely valuable to our proceedings. This often happens during the project activities (like our sessions), while advertising on events, casual encounters or by e-mail.

Although we received positive feedback, it’s not easy – let us say very challenging –  to mobilize seniors to join sporting activities.

Adaptation

We made one change to the original plan. We were planning to install several treadles at the benches in the city centre district. This way we could stimulate the seniors to move more. Unfortunately, our plan wasn’t financially feasible. We had to look for treadles on the private market. Manufacturing these types was too expensive and didn’t fit within in our planned budget.

We based our new plans on the needs we’ve collected during our research, of our target group. Seniors indicated that there are no sports facilities in the city centre district and there is a lack in mobility offers. We could bring sports facilities to their doorstep.

Key stakeholders and relations

Some participants of the ‘Silver sessions’ (our movement sessions outdoors) are far more involved than expected. During these sessions they take care of the group, they assist the less mobile persons when needed, they help to cross the intersections, they prepare and clean up the materials used. In addition to that, these key individuals also welcome new faces and show them around, and they advertise the project to others of their age group. In short, they are the face of the Silver sessions and of project SAIL in the city of Ostend.

The synergy between project SAIL and the community workers (under the supervision of the district manager) of the city centre district and the district manager himself play a central role in the continuity of the Silver sessions. In exchange for their support and advertisement, the sessions are the perfect time to make themselves known among the participants, to win their trust and to gather information. It’s a win-win for all partners involved!