ARICHAT - The Warden of Richmond County is hoping open houses held in Arichat and St. Peter's in the final week of May will go a long way towards educating county residents about the latest stages of the county[s accessibility plans, while encouraging them to get involved in the overall process.

Amanda Mombourquette led a group of eager community residents for a walk up and down the sidewalks of Arichat, beginning and ending at the Richmond Municipal Building, on the afternoon of May 30. Similar activities took place the following day in the Village of St. Peter's, which is developing its own accessibility strategy to complement the county-wide strategy that the municipality has worked to establish in recent years. 

Speaking to Telile news/host producer at the wrap-up of the Arichat event, Mombourquette was hopeful that her municipality can work in tandem with the provincial government to access the necessary funds to make all public buildings in the county completely accessible before a provincially-set deadline of 2030 to carry out this work. 

"The provincial government has made accessibility grants available for not-for-profits and the business community," Mombourquette pointed out. "The last time I had checked, there were pretty substantial percentages that were available to be covered in terms of project costs. So we're definitely going to be making that information available, and also advocating to the provincial budget to increase the amounts that would be made available for these grants."

This week's Roundtable also includes a Seniors Mental Health panel that is designed to address both the recently-completed Mental Health Month as well as the newly-launched Elder Abuse Awareness Month, which takes place in June. Participants in the panel included Nova Scotia Health representative Amy Gough, who oversees the distribution of mental health supports from a department-run clinic in Halifax, and River Bourgeois resident Mark Feltmate, a former councillor with the Municipality of the District of Guysborough who regularly shares his own struggles with mental health to make others aware of the unique challenges often faced by those over 60, including the onset of dementia-related conditions such as Alzheimer's Disease.