A major nine-month study is being launched to find out the needs of Bermuda's seniors and their carers in what researchers hope could be a model for other parts of the world.

Three hundred seniors as well as many carers will be interviewed by a team from Bermuda College - trained by specialists from Fordham University in New York - for a report which will go to Government.

It is expected the study will examine issues such as housing, health, finances, employment, volunteering and recreation.

Bermuda College president Michael Orenduff said yesterday: "The scale of Bermuda is such that the study can be done and the recommendations implemented in a timely fashion and we may learn lessons that can be replicated in other jurisdictions."

According to the 2000 census, there are 6,722 seniors, accounting for 10.83 percent of the population, but the figure is expected to grow to about 14 percent due to improvements in health.

Shadow Health Minister Michael Dunkley said around half the Island's seniors are poor or near poor - "a frightening statistic when you look at an island as affluent as Bermuda".

Dr. Irene Gutheil of the Ravazzin Centre for Social Work Research in Ageing at Fordham, who is the principal investigator, said: "We've reviewed previous studies and census data and gathered useful information about the complex influences on the ageing process in Bermuda.

"Now we must move onto the next step - gathering data directly from seniors, care givers and care providers.

"Once we identify unmet or under-met needs and service gaps, the data can be used as a tool for building a strengthened service system.

"Ultimately, we hope the report will provide the critical information needed to assist in planning a response to the challenge of Bermuda's rapidly growing ageing population. The goal is to inspire action in both the public and private sectors."

The aftermath of Hurricane Fabian threw into stark relief some of the problems facing Bermuda's seniors, particularly those on low incomes, according to Dr. Melvin Dickinson of the National Office for Seniors and the Disabled.

"What we saw post-Fabian was a myriad of problems that seniors are having. Housing problems, pension problems, and as they come to our office, there are things we did not know about," he said.

"When people's roofs blew off, if they did not have insurance, who did they turn to? Too old to go to the bank for a loan, they had to turn to philanthropists.

"The National Office for Seniors and the Disabled was able to facilitate that by (channelling) money from philanthropists. It is not a small problem because we are dealing with a population that really needs us."

Acting Health Minister Senator Michael Scott said at the Press launch yesterday Government was committed to improving seniors' welfare, and had increased the pension after Hurricane Fabian.

The project is the brainchild of Atlantic Philanthropies, a Bermuda-based charitable foundation, which is funding the research.

Since last summer, preparation work for the study has been done in collaboration with Government, church groups, and the National Office for Seniors and Disabled.

Marian Sherratt will co-ordinate the project, and an overseeing committee will be chaired by Dr. Orenduff.

Other committee members are: Dr. Dickinson, executive director of PALS Ann Smith Gordon, geriatrician at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital Dr. David Harries, retired banker and former Senate President Albert Jackson, Anglican Bishop of Bermuda Rt. Rev Ewen Ratteray, retired headmistress Edna Mae Scott, AME Church elder Rev. Conway Simmons, Argus Insurance President Gerald Simons, King Edward VII Memorial CEO Joan Dillas Wright, Centre on Philanthropy chairman Cummings Zuill, and James Hallett and Ray Handlan of Atlantic Philanthropies.

The research is expected to be completed in September then made public.