Community services vital to seniors’ health

Having them living at home is a win for us all, Gloria Levi and Laura Kadowaki write.

Zumba, dragon boating, glee club, Spanish lessons, creative writing, poker, massage, sushi making, peer counselling, digital storytelling — these are not activities you would usually associate with senior centres. Yet, when we visited eight centres serving seniors in Metro Vancouver we learned that many centres offer not only these programs, but also much more.

In Canada, our population is aging, and by 2036, Statistics Canada estimates that almost a quarter of our population will be 65 and up.

Supporting seniors to live in the community is ideal for both seniors and the health care system. Most Canadians want to age in place and live in their own home for as long as possible. It is also cheaper to care for seniors in the community than in residential care. The B.C. Ministry of Health reported in 2015 that the average annual cost of care for a frail senior in residential care was $59,210; in the community it was $20,290.

For seniors to live independently as long as possible, the necessary supports need to be in place. A Manitoba study found that senior centres offer opportunities for social participation, lifelong learning, and volunteering. Altogether, this means active and healthy lifestyles, quality of life, and mental and physical health.

We reviewed services offered at six senior centres, one community centre and one neighbourhood house. Half of these were municipal centres and the other half independent; centres ranged from 4,000 square feet to over 46,000 square feet; and staff numbers ranged from three to over 30.

What was most impressive at all the centres was the broad range of programs offered to seniors in the areas of food and nutrition, health and wellness, fitness and sport, creative arts, education and information, and recreation. Most offered 50 or more programs to seniors, usually for a nominal fee.

Food services were the most popular programs, and four of the centres had cafeterias that offered lunch five to seven days a week. All the centres offered fitness and sport programs, ranging from gentle exercises such as tai chi to the more vigorous cycling and floor hockey. The centres also provided information and referral services, taught computer basics, and offered planned trips and outings.

As our aging population continues to grow in B.C., we need to ensure that these centres offer quality programming to a growing and increasingly diverse population. Securing funding to sustain and expand current programs is an important concern for centres, particularly for independent ones.

There is also a need to improve the facilities and space available to meet growing demands. Most of the centres we visited are considering or planning for a new space. And then, there is the question of transportation, to ensure that seniors can access the centres. Some of the centres we visited have their own shuttle buses to assist seniors to travel to the centre and other locations in the community, but systemic changes are needed to make centres accessible to all seniors.

Strategic partnerships and volunteers are two ways that centres augment their resources to provide programs and services that their budgets otherwise would not allow.

In the words of Betty Friedan, “Aging is not lost youth, but a new stage of opportunity and strength.”

By providing seniors with opportunities for socialization, healthy meals, and physical activity, centres serving seniors can play a key role in keeping seniors healthy and independent, and this can delay/prevent seniors from requiring more costly health care services.

Community-based services should be recognized as an important component of the continuum of seniors care. The next step is to build a framework that allows for a co-operative alliance between community service providers, municipalities, health authorities and the province that will meet the needs of seniors and help them live healthy, independent and engaged lives in their communities.

There is also a need to improve the facilities and space available to meet growing demands.