International Day of Older Persons is being marked Friday at Hamilton City Hall.

The focus of the event is seniors health care issues, including home care, long term care, palliative care, hospital cuts, pharmacare and dementia.

It will be held in the council chambers from 11 a.m. until 1:30 p.m.

The keynote speaker will be Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, speaking about the challenges seniors face locally in obtaining quality home care, long-term care and palliative care. She will also address the concerns of seniors being able to find high quality and affordable nursing home care.

Rachel Weldric of McMaster University will speak about senior isolation and Laurie Brown of Ontario Nurses Association will talk about professional staffing and problems associated in seniors health-care needs.

The International Day of Older Persons event is organized by a group of Greater Hamilton Area retiree organizations including the Hamilton, Burlington and Oakville Chapter of the Congress of Union Retirees of Canada, the Hamilton Chapter of the Canadian Association of Retired Persons, the Hamilton and Area Branch of the National Association of Federal Retirees and Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees. Supporting organizations include Labour Community Services-United Way Halton & Hamilton, Hamilton Health Coalition, Hamilton Chapter of the Council of Canadians and the Hamilton Council on Aging.