Random Age-Friendly Committee

Random Age-Friendly Communities (RAFC) was established in 2007 as part of a national strategy to have rural communities become Age-Friendly. Clarenville was one of only 10 communities in Canada. A board of established community leaders in the region was put in place to develop an implementation plan to address this strategy.

RAFC developed several initiatives including developing a website. Computer Classes for Seniors were offered in conjunction with College of The North Atlantic, several information sessions were offered on many different topics including legal, health, driving and home safety, just to name a few. These information sessions grew into the Seniors’ Information Fairs which are held annually. At each fair, over 40 vendors provided important information to more than 200 older adults and their families.

Another initiative was to establish a “drop-in” program for adults 50+ years of age. Hence, GATHER (Generating Awareness Through Healthy Eating and Recreation) was formed. GATHER operates on a volunteer basis on Thursday afternoons from 1:30 to 4:00 pm at the Bill Davis Chalet in Clarenville.

RAFC produced a Health and Wellness guide that contained information of over 250 organizations in the Clarenville region and was distributed to 2,500 households. This guide as well as the information sessions, computer classes, seniors’ information fairs, and GATHER were all provided at no cost to our seniors.

RAFC was involved with the Town of Clarenville in developing the Age-Friendly Park, located on Gladney Street, in 2014. Today, they are, once again, involved in the redesigning of the park.

A comprehensive report, which was presented to the Dept. of Health, included a series of recommendations which subsequently led to the establishment of five pilot seniors’ transportation initiatives in NL. Clarenville was selected as one of the five. RAFC purchased a 16- passenger bus, developed and implemented a model to operate the Clarenville Region Extended Seniors’ Transportation (CREST) service. This model is based on volunteers and operates 5 days a week from Monday to Friday. CREST also provides excursions outside of the normal weekly operations. These excursions have included social outings to numerous senior organizations, retirement homes, O’Mahony Manor and the Protective Care Unit.The CREST bus has also assisted the Boy Scouts in visiting shut ins and on many occasions assisted College students collect food for the food bank.

The CREST operation is viewed as one of the most successful seniors’ transportation services in Canada. As such, we have provided expertise and guidance to several communities in NL and throughout Canada to help them establish a similar service in their community.

In addition to continually making our community Age-Friendly, in 2021 RAFC launched an initiative to help businesses in the area become Age-Friendly. After extensive research, an AgeFriendly Business Model was developed that included 57 evaluation criteria in areas of Accessibility, Comfort, Visibility and Sound, and Customer Satisfaction. As part of the initial pilot project, 10 local businesses were accessed and were awarded their Age-Friendly Business status. This model is the first of its kind in NL and Labrador. Currently, Phase 2 is being implemented. This phase will include an additional 20 businesses in the Clarenville region.

During the past several months, RAFC has partnered with Eastern Health and the Town of Clarenville to develop a Dementia-Friendly model for our community. It is the intention to include these criteria as part of the Phase 2 Age-Friendly Business assessment.

In 2022, RAFC was awarded the Inclusion Award by the Coalition of Persons with Disabilities NL and Labrador.

Emergency Contacts
RCMP: 466-3211
Fire Department: 466-7777
Ambulance: 466-3468
Hospital: 466-3411
Poison Control: 1-800-722-1110
Mental Health Crisis: 1-888-737-4668

Photography by Paul Tilley.