{"id":23456,"date":"2019-04-04T19:45:32","date_gmt":"2019-04-04T23:45:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=23456"},"modified":"2019-04-04T19:45:41","modified_gmt":"2019-04-04T23:45:41","slug":"staying-active-takes-centre-stage-at-minister-for-seniors-roundtable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/staying-active-takes-centre-stage-at-minister-for-seniors-roundtable\/","title":{"rendered":"Staying active takes centre stage at Minister for Seniors\u2019 roundtable"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Allowing seniors to\nage in place \u2013 and remain active while doing so \u2013 were central issues voiced to\nCanada\u2019s Minister for Seniors last week at a roundtable hosted by\nNewmarket-Aurora MP Kyle Peterson and the Aurora Seniors Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Representatives from\nthe Aurora Seniors Association (ASA), Newmarket Seniors Meeting Place, CHATS\n(Community & Home Assistance to Seniors), the Canadian Association of\nRetired Persons (CARP), York Region Makers, 108 Health Promotion, the Region of\nYork, along with Mayor Tom Mrakas and Newmarket Mayor Tom Taylor were among\nthose who gathered at the Seniors\u2019 Centre last Monday to outline their concerns\nto Filomena Tassi, Federal Minister of Seniors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is no question\nthat we know when seniors are active, it is very preventative in terms of\nailments,\u201d said Ms. Tassi, responding to a call from the ASA\u2019s Charles Sequeira\nfor a Federal program that would put a tax rebate in place for seniors trying\nto stay active by joining a gym or a comparable program or facility. \u201cThere is\nno question that we want seniors to be active and engaged in their communities,\nand physical activity is a very important part, which is why the New Horizons\nfor Seniors program is an example of one that is very important for the Federal\nGovernment to invest in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stakeholders went\non to press the Minister on the issue of affordable seniors housing, which was\nsomething both Mayors said was important to Aurora and Newmarket as a whole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are very aware of\nthis in terms of the need for affordable seniors housing,\u201d responded the\nMinister. \u201cYou are not just talking about housing, but transition pieces where\npeople can stay, making sure it is age appropriate or age friendly, etc. In\nBudget 2016, we invested $200 million and that was to create a minimum of 6,000\nspaces for seniors in terms of affordable housing. Then, subsequent to that,\n$40 billion in the national housing strategy. In that strategy is what there is\na co-investment piece and I believe that is $16.5 billion. That is the\napplication that can be made to apply for safe, secure affordable housing for\nseniors. It is a minimum space of 7,200 if you do a number count, but it can be\na lot more than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat is different\nabout this is we\u2019re having CMHC (Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation)\nwork with different organizations in order to create safe, secure, meaningful\nhousing for seniors. Those investments are being made. As I am travelling\nacross the country, I am seeing models that are being designed that are\nabsolutely brilliant, where they go from independent living right to long-term\ncare. It is the full spectrum with wraparound services and inclusive of those\nliving with dementia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aging in place, she\nadded, was another component the Federal government was taking to heart. $6\nbillion was given to the provinces and territories, she said, to support\nseniors who want to age in place, but there is still work to be done creating\nspaces ideally suited for seniors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe last thing we\nwant is a senior in hospital when they can be in a space for assisted living,\nbut there are no assisted living [spaces] and now it is costing about $1,000 a\nnight for them to be in the hospital,\u201d said Ms. Tassi. \u201cThey don\u2019t want to be\nthere, they catch other things and then it causes problems. We are making\nadvances and making headway on that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Federal\ngovernment needs to make more advances and headway on transportation, said\nCHATS CEO Christina Bisanz. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ms. Bisanz said she\nwas encouraged by the Minister\u2019s agreement that transportation was an issue\nright across the country, particularly in more rural areas, including those\nhere in York Region. Organizations have applied for grants under the New\nHorizons program to forge transportation services to get seniors from place to\nplace, an initiative that is very much in CHATS\u2019 wheelhouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are very\nappreciative of the support we\u2019ve had from the New Horizons program,\u201d said Ms.\nBisanz, offering that program grants received by CHATS have not only enabled\nthem to install a wellness garden at their Edward Street headquarters, but also\nseniors technology labs in Aurora and Richmond Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These programs, she\nsaid, help seniors stay connected, staving off feelings of isolation, but much\nof their client base is \u201cthe more frail elderly\u201d who are not able to get\nthemselves from their place of residence to the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is where our\ntransportation service comes in,\u201d said Ms. Bisanz. \u201cWe provide transportation\nthrough all of York Region through both volunteer as well as paid drivers. We\nwill drive seniors to medical appointments, to grocery shop, to our adult day\nprograms and social programs, whatever they need. It is a service that is meant\nto complement existing public transit, so in this case, York Region Transit\nwith its mobility plus service, really should be the first stop and then CHATS\nis designed to fill in. Although increasingly we\u2019re finding that because of the\nfrailty of our clients that they are preferring CHATS service. We have had to\nprioritize medical drives over the more social drives, and it is a very\neffective program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Providing the means\nfor seniors to get where they need to go is just one component of helping them\nstay and age in their homes as long as possible, live independently and do so\nin dignity. But there is also a vital need for human resource supports to help\npeople age in place, she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Home care is becoming\never more important and is, in many cases, the preferred option to help seniors\nage in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe challenge we have is we have already hit a\nwall in terms of\u2026resources in the personal support area. It is increasingly\ndifficult for any of us, whether it is home care, long term care, hospital\ncare, to be able to attract and retain personal support workers,\u201d she said,\nasking for something to be done \u201cfrom the standpoint of immigration\u201d for a\nnational strategy on health and human resources, focusing on skilled support\nworkers and nurses.<\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Allowing seniors to age in place \u2013 and remain active while doing so \u2013 were central issues voiced to Canada\u2019s Minister for Seniors last week at a roundtable hosted by Newmarket-Aurora MP Kyle Peterson and the Aurora Seniors Association.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/2019-04-04-01.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-66k","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 18:03:58","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23456","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23456"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23456\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23456"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23456"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23456"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}