Supporting people’s ability to live at home is one of the City of Kalajoki’s most important objectives. The ageing of the population leads to increased needs and requirements, which the City of Kalajoki seeks to meet by developing its service strategy. Kalajoki’s welfare plan lays down objectives for fostering senior citizens’ well-being. The goal is to prevent loneliness, ensure a healthy diet, prevent falls and support informal caregivers. Increasing communal spirit is essential in all age groups.

The “Services Provided at Home Unit” provides high-quality and customer-oriented home care services, informal care, service guidance, and support services for home care. There are also intensive assisted living units in the different urban centres of the city. Home visits intended to foster well-being are available for those 80-years and older, and aid is available for home alteration work as necessary.

An information service is available by phone, providing senior citizens and their family and friends with individual guidance and advice to support older citizens living at home. Through the information service, people can seek safety phones and meal services, snow ploughing and other support services. The new Koti TV television channel, which is intended for older citizens, is also available in Northern Ostrobothnia. The channel offers remote physical rehabilitation, memory rehabilitation and cultural activities for older people.

The Senior Citizens’ Council plays a major role in municipal decision-making. For example, the council gave its opinion on the construction of a new intensive assisted living unit. In the future, older citizens will also have their voices heard better when it comes to the city’s technical services, and the Senior Citizens’ Council will be more actively involved in these services in the future. The City of Kalajoki received funding from the Ministry of the Environment to prepare a development plan for the area. Among the plans to be prepared is a project entitled ‘the whole city’s living room’, i.e. a comfortable park area that will attract different generations to come and spend time together. The objective is to increase community spirit and reduce loneliness.

In the future, the City will improve access to information to ensure that older citizens can more easily access the information they require, and the City will also launch a municipal bulletin that will be distributed to households. As technology evolves, older citizens will be provided with better support in using computers. The health centre’s new building will have an employee who will provide information as required based on the one-stop-shop principle. The City of Kalajoki is a geographically broad area with poor public transport, which is why the mobility of older citizens will be facilitated through the development of service buses and use of taxi vouchers.