COLD LAKE - Helping seniors to continue living independently in their homes is a key focus of Age Friendly Cold Lake. A delegation from the charitable organization was on hand at last Tuesday’s City of Cold Lake council meeting with hopes the City will find some room in its 2024 budget to support the work the group believes is a much-needed community service.
For the most part, services to seniors are limited to those provided through Alberta Health Services and government assisted living facilities. While those services and supports are integral to supporting an aging population, Age Friendly Cold Lake with its small outreach staff and a strong volunteer corps, steps in to fill the gaps and overcome the barriers some people face in remaining in their homes as they navigate through their senior years, board member John Bitz explained to council members.
Age Friendly Cold Lake requested council consider allocating $53,850 in its 2024 budget to the organization to offset its operational costs. It is also looking for the same consideration in 2025 and 2026.
Prior to the ask, Bitz, together with program manager Diane Stonehocker and outreach manager Cathy Aust, provided council members with an overview of the organization, how it operates, the services provided and the challenges it meets head on as it works to advocate for seniors in the community.
He said the group has been previously successful in securing two grants – one focused on providing home support services to seniors living in Cold Lake and Wards 5 and 6 of the MD of Bonnyville, and the second grant helps to support seniors with chronic life-limiting disease.
“We do this work in conjunction with AHS, doctors in the local medical clinics, other allied care providers as well as the Alzheimer’s Society of Northern Alberta, Caregivers Alberta and a host of other organizations that enhance our ability to serve the seniors in this community,” Bitz said.
The support network provided by the organization allows “seniors to stay in their home and live in their home longer, rather than moving them into congregate housing.”
The list of services being offered through Age Friendly Cold Lake is a comprehensive one and ranges from providing volunteer navigators to connect with seniors, advocating on their behalf, minor home maintenance, assistance with meals, helping them get to appointments or short-term caregiver respite, among many others. A caregiver support group, grief support counselling and a dementia day program are some of the community supports provided. Feast for Friendship luncheons are also held regularly for isolated seniors.
Bitz said he volunteers as a navigator for a 65-year-old senior whom he described as “95 per cent blind, has one arm and has dementia.” The man lives alone with no family support and is dependent on Age Friendly Cold Lake for all his needs.
He said, the organization takes the man shopping, to all his appointments, makes sure his bills are paid, and takes him to Age Friendly functions to interact with other people “just to break the monotony of being housebound.” They also make sure his clothes are washed, his home is kept tidy, and they ensure he has access to food in his home.
“We visit him and give him some assurance that his life does matter, and he has someone to confide in and trust.”
Bitz said ultimately the individual will be placed in a supportive living environment but between now and then, Age Friendly Cold Lake is advocating for him and ensuring he is not taken advantage of.
Outreach manager Cathy Aust said there are many “hoops” to navigate in a system that is already over-burdened in obtaining things like guardianship for an individual such as this – one who is experiencing dementia and is also back and forth as to whether he’s prepared to move into an assisted living facility.
Aust provided another example of the challenges the organization deals with. She described a couple who were both in poor health, where the man was “very frail” and his wife was suffering from dementia. Medications were not being taken as prescribed, if at all, and falls in the home lead to several ambulance calls and hospitalizations. Both AHS Home Care and Age Friendly Cold Lake were working to assist the man in getting into an assisted living environment, but his wife was against leaving their home.
“His desire was to be in the lodge. Every time either agency got close to success, he would pull the pin. He did that out of loyalty and concern for his wife. He was afraid for her safety if she was left alone in the home too long.”
One of the issues identified in this case was that the wife was not able to have a full capacity assessment done, Aust explained. She said there is lack of capacity assessors in the region and Age Friendly Cold Lake is hoping this is a service it will be able to provide in the future.
Ultimately, Bitz said, Cold Lake seniors have access to “significantly more services than is provided in other communities.” However, he said it still falls short.
“As a City council, you should be aware that Cold Lake is becoming known for its unique services’ landscape for seniors, largely due to the work of Age Friendly. The group regularly receives requests from other communities on how it’s being done here.”
The fact that the organization is grant dependent raises concern about sustainability of the services it provides. Grants are generally project based, short-term and not usually reoccurring, he said.
“To sum it up, our existence feels like it is feast or famine. We find ourselves having to be more reactive and not as proactive as we would like due to the short-term and uncertain nature of our funding.”
Bitz said the organization is working on diversified revenue strategies to shore up its programming and increase its impact in the community, including corporate and personal donations to support its work. It also continues to work with other organizations to create formal partnerships to enhance the quality of Cold Lake seniors.
“We think it’s a fair ask that you provide the support that we may need after we’ve done all that we can to be independent,” he said in summing up the group’s presentation. “In light of the support that the council has provided to other organizations that equally provide vital service for the city residents, we do not feel we’re amiss in our request.”
No decision was made by council as 2024 budget deliberations have yet to get underway.
