Retired Founder of Tri-Cities Seniors' Action Society Talks about Building Age Friendly Communities

Ken Kuhn comes from a background of teaching business, computers, and accounting at many levels of education.  Since his retirement he has kept busy in a volunteer capacity with several different organizations that match his values and goals in life. 

One of Ken's main goals includes trying to build age-friendly community policies and initiatives here in the Tri-Cities by working with councils and seniors' organizations. As such, he is currently executive director of the Tri-Cities Senior Action Society which is part of the local Community Response Network.(CRNs)

The Tri-Cities Senior Action Society is part of a larger network called the BC Community Response Network. The British Columbia Association of Community Response Networks (BC CRN) grew out of the need to create an on-going, permanent provincial funding and support structure for the benefit of vulnerable adults who are experiencing (or at risk of experiencing) abuse, neglect, and self-neglect.

The Association provides small project funding, resources, materials, training, and support people to assist over 80 community response networks in their work. 

In liaising at the provincial level through their Regional Mentors and the Executive Director, CRNs assist in identifying common themes, barriers, and issues which require work at the regional, provincial, and sometimes national level. Neglect is the failure to provide necessary care, assistance or attention that causes serious physical, mental or emotional harm, or damage to or loss of assets.

Over one third of the Tri-Cities population is now over the age of fifty. Ken feels that our civic infrastructure has lagged behind the demographics and that we need to be better prepared for our increasing population of seniors.

The Tri-Cities is also a very multicultural community which does raise concerns that some ethnic groups may not encourage speaking out about family issues thus making it harder to combat elder abuse. The Tri-City Senior Action Society focus' it's efforts on bringing awareness of elder abuse, rather than trying to intervene directly.

June 15, 2022 has been proclaimed World Elder Abuse Awareness Day in British Columbia