“Seniors Making a Difference” is the theme of the 32nd annual Seniors Month and evidence of the difference they are making is on display across northern Wellington.
The Seniors Centre for Excellence is focusing attention on the community contributions of seniors from Mapleton, Minto and Wellington North in a number of ways this month.
The centre has compiled a video photo gallery of seniors in north Wellington in their volunteer/working roles, which can be found on municipal websites and social media outlets in the three communities.
“One of the things we are also conscious of is promoting seniors as vibrant and active members of our society,” said centre coordinator Helen Edwards. The video recognizes “just a small fraction of the contribution that seniors make to our communities to keep them strong.”
Similarly, a 2pm screening of the British documentary Never Too Old For Gold at the Norgan Theatre in Palmerston on June 16 was aimed at “showcasing seniors as active people,” said Edwards.
The film follows a group of people aged 80 to 93 as they participate in a table tennis tournament in China.
Contributing to their communities through volunteer and workforce roles is nothing new for most seniors, says Edwards.
“It’s been a part of their life. It’s something that they’ve always done. They grew up volunteering with their church and their hospital,” she said, pointing out seniors, because of the time and expertise they can offer, are an integral part of any community’s volunteer base.
“A lot of things would not move forward without the senior volunteer workforce.”
The Seniors Centre for Excellence was established in 2008 when a group of area residents, including Deborah Whale and former Mapleton mayor John Green responded to a request for proposals from the Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network.
“Mapleton took the lead but it was supported by Minto and Wellington North as well,” said Edwards.
Originally the program was called Close to Home and was funded through the provincial government’s Aging At Home strategy. “The idea was recognizing the needs of rural seniors are different than their urban counterparts and less services are available to rural seniors than there are in the cities,” said Edwards.
Despite the name, there is no physical building that acts as the “centre,” said Edwards, who works primarily out of office space in the Mapleton Community Health Centre in Drayton along with administrative assistant Hayley Fletcher.
“The seniors centre is a virtual centre. Our work is all done out in the community,” added Edwards.
Among the services the seniors centre offers are walking programs, congregate dining programs featuring speakers on a variety of topics, and brokered homemaking. Through the latter program homemakers are hired to provide a wide range of services that include, but are not limited to: vacuuming, laundry, meal preparation, pet care, grocery shopping, seasonal decoration and home maintenance.
Another recent initiative saw the centre team up with the Mapleton Youth Action Council to provide a spring yard cleanup service to seniors. Edwards said one of the centre’s goals for the coming year is to connect with more young people and provide the service in additional communities.
Whale, now chair of the centre’s Seniors Advisory Group, said such collaboration benefits seniors, youth and the entire community.
“We want to work on building those relationships with youth so that youth, in addition to helping out seniors, also begin to understand the value of becoming community volunteers and building better communities. So it’s kind of a two-way street,” said Whale.
Coordinating services for seniors, whether the services are actually provided by the centre or not, is another role the organization plays.
“If people are unsure of where to go for a service they can contact us and we will connect them with the service that they are looking for,” Edwards explained.
Whale calls it “one-stop shopping” for services.
“If you have to start thumbing through a whole bunch of white pages and blue pages and try to track it all down yourself, its going to be a pretty frustrating experience,” compared to a single phone call to the centre for excellence, Whale noted.
The centre also produces a monthly calendar listing all types of activities happening in the north Wellington region. The calendar helps people feel connected to the community, Edwards said, adding “we know that feeling connected to your community is a really important factor in good health.”
The calendar can be found on the Mapleton Township website. Local residents may also contact the centre office to get on the mail or email list to receive the calendar, which features activities organized by the centre, as well as other groups.
“We’re able to promote a lot of the fantastic work that other organizations are doing through our calendar,” said Edwards. She noted the centre is unique in that it is a collaboration of municipal entities focusing on a specific sector of their population.
“It’s unique … especially for three rural municipalities to come together and recognize the importance of seniors and the really significant role they play in the health of the community,” said Edwards
Whale agreed, adding, “We are unique in Ontario in that three municipalities have come together to cooperate to make our whole region a welcoming place for seniors.
“And the fact that it is rural is equally unique. I think it’s a really good model for other municipalities to look at.”
While keeping seniors happy by ensuring they have plenty of activities and the services they need is one element of what the centre does, Whale feels there is a whole other aspect that benefits the entire community.
“The other side of it is municipalities want to encourage seniors to do as much as possible within the municipality – work, go shopping, run activities, stay healthy – and I look on it as a competitive edge for these three municipalities.”
Whale noted many municipalities are employing economic development officers these days and focussing on making their municipalities attractive to young families.
“They forget a key economic tiller of any community is its senior citizens. If they are happy and utilized well, then I believe it is an economic edge,” said Whale.
To contact the Seniors Centre for Excellence call 519-638-1000 or 1-866-446-4546 or email Edwards at hedwards@mapleton.ca.
