Money may not be able to buy happiness but new federal funding is at least putting some smiles on the faces of the folks at the St. Albert Senior Citizens’ Club.
The New Horizons for Seniors program is a federal grant that supports projects for seniors looking to improve their lives and their communities through volunteerism, mentorship, community projects and programs, and awareness of social issues like elder abuse.
It also works to combat the isolation that is large in this city and expected to get larger as the average age of the population gets higher. Chantelle Labrecque, executive director at the seniors’ club, said even the definition of the problem can be tricky.
“The idea for the program is designed to reduce the number of isolated seniors living in the St. Albert community,” she began. “There are different statistics that make up the group of isolated seniors.”
According to her, an isolated senior can be someone who lives alone, has health difficulties, disabilities or mobility issues, low socioeconomic status, language or cultural barriers, suffers abuse or neglect, or doesn’t have access to adequate transportation. She describes that last one as “a hot issue in St. Albert.”
Starting tomorrow, the seniors’ club will take the $17,500 and start applying it to bring seniors out of their homes to improve their participation and inclusion in society.
The program will allow seniors to leave their homes for common destinations (like the clubhouse itself) in order to socialize with others through activities like the social lunches. Field trips and outings are also in the works, as well as info sessions on nutrition, elder abuse, physical activity, “pretty much anything pertaining to seniors’ issues,” Labrecque said.
According to the 2010 census, seniors account for approximately 12 per cent of the population of St. Albert. Almost 4,400 seniors still live in their own homes and about 2,800 of these households are seniors only.
“Basically that means there’s a lot of seniors living independently. Usually – not in all cases – but usually when they’re living alone in their houses, they are more susceptible to becoming isolated,” said Labrecque. “We hear that a lot through our adult day programs, our outreach programs. That’s why we took the initiative to get this grant to do something about that.”
Tara Rodrique, outreach co-ordinator, hopes that this means programs like Learn to Ride will get a big boost in popularity.
“I think a huge part of the problem with senior isolation in St. Albert is transportation,” she said. “Transportation comes up all the time, I think, in all communities when it comes to seniors.”
“When seniors are not able to drive any longer, that’s a huge loss of independence. Some of them cannot afford other transportation or they just think it’s too expensive. That isolates them for sure. That’s why the Learn to Ride program is good.”
That program sees St. Albert Transit come to the seniors’ club on a periodic basis to take seniors through the transit system step by step so that it isn’t such a daunting task for the uninitiated.
Participants in activities under the New Horizons for Seniors grant will also be asked to provide input into the planning of programs and activities. This, Labrecque said, will ultimately help to make the seniors feel empowered and included as valuable members of society.
The program will have an intergenerational component to it, with in-home friendly visits.
“We have not approached the schools yet but that will be one direction that I’m hoping for and they will partner with us. It’s a possibility,” Labrecque said.
This grant will not have an impact on Meals on Wheels.
Labrecque said the program is positive because it helps seniors to remain independent in their homes as long as possible. She invited seniors from St. Albert and surrounding areas as well as other citizens to contact her if they know of anyone who might be interested or could benefit from this program.
She can be reached at 780-459-0433 ext. 3.
