We would also like to mention the small ethnic Senior Centres which abound particularly in some of the larger communities of Alberta. Older people continue to need these types of experiences. These centres provide important opportunities for older people to experience social interaction and to use their skills or develop new ones. We would not want to see changes that would dilute Senior Centres’ focus on older people. We note that you mention that Senior Centres might be used by a broader spectrum of individuals. Exploring options aimed at finding sources of funding for maintaining, sustaining and expanding the Senior Centre in the community is critical. While most Senior Centres are independent and raise their own funding, resources are scarce and most are probably therefore unable to establish any of the extra programs needed to provide the vital functions for older people mentioned in your report. Developing outreach programs to help identify the needs of isolated seniors has been attempted by many Senior Centres but often they are unable to continue such services because of lack of funding and lack of training for volunteers who have an interest in participating in this type of program. The Alberta Association on Gerontology strongly supports your suggestion that Family and Community Support Services be involved in helping Senior Centres to review and develop relevant programs. The Alberta Council on Aging would likely need some financial support to hire a person trained in community organization in order to achieve this goal. Since the Alberta Council on Aging has a large membership of seniors located throughout the province, perhaps they might take on the role of assisting and encouraging Senior Centres to expand their programming to meet the needs of “new” seniors, and to become more active participants in their community. Community organization requires considerable skill, and is not something that can be developed immediately, since each organization must come to understand the benefits available to them from such cooperation, and not feel threatened by another organization. Many centres are operated strictly by volunteers who are not likely to have the time, and may not have the expertise to establish a program to review the needs and expectations of present and/or future members, or to develop a community network. They are ideally situated to be a focal point in the community for programs for older people, such as health promotion/prevention, outreach and other community service programs as mentioned in your report. There are Senior Centres in surprisingly small towns, and they are liberally distributed across rural Alberta. We were pleased to learn that the Seniors Advisory Council for Alberta and the Alberta Council on Aging have completed a study of Senior Centres in Alberta with the purpose of determining the role and future sustainability of Senior Centres.Īs a result of funding provided by the federal New Horizons program, many Senior Centres have been established in both rural and urban areas of the province. Re: Current and Future Roles and Needs of Seniors’ Centres in Alberta
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