For the past 3½ years, the Seniors Health Network has been running monthly articles in Peace Arch News related to seniors.
For the most part, these articles address health-related issues seniors in White Rock/South Surrey may be dealing with.
The format we have been using starts with a question a senior could pose and we then ask a healthcare professional to write a response. The questions are hypothetical but, in the experience of the members of the Seniors Health Network, they are typical of the questions they see in their daily practice.
This month, we have elected to tell you a bit about ‘who’ the Seniors Health Network is and what contributions we make to the community.
About four years ago, Dr. Grace Park heard about such a network running effectively in Maple Ridge. Using their experience as a model, Park and I invited a group of health-care providers and others to form a Seniors Health Network for White Rock South Surrey.
Terms of reference were created, a partnership with the City of White Rock was developed and the committee came together to create their mission, vision and objectives.
Annual objectives have been created every year since the beginning.
Current committee members include Park (family physician and medical director home health Fraser Health Authority); Andrea Cox (Seniors Come Share); Wayne Baldwin (mayor, City of White Rock); Denise Darrell (Sources Community Resources); Louise Tremblay (BC Community Resource Network); Eric Stepura, Dianne Sawicki and Sylvia Yee (City of White Rock); Cary Sheppard (Division of Family Practice); Ken Jones (senior and member of Seniors Planning Table); Tracy Hoskins (community health specialist, Fraser Health); Michelle Truong (Healthy Built Environments, Fraser Health); Linda McGowan (MVT Canadian Bus Ltd.); Heather Martin and Andrea McCorkell (Comfort Keepers); Avalon Tournier (Alzheimer’s Society) and Laurie McFarlane (Stroke Recovery Program).
In the beginning, we started with the overall objective of promoting healthy independent living for seniors and from there we developed, implemented and evaluated programs to achieve that end.
We led the research and development for the ‘Volunteer Assisted Discharge’ program, now called the H2H or Hospital to Home program, where volunteers provide both a ride home and companionship for seniors who would otherwise go home from hospital alone. This program was operated by a partnership which included the Seniors Health Network, Sources, Seniors Come Share and Peace Arch Hospital.
We are very proud of the three years this program has been providing service with committed and caring volunteers who provide that extra bit of comfort and reassurance for our seniors who are on their own.
We planned and implemented multiple education sessions in partnership with Surrey Libraries called ‘Health Literacy.’
Physicians, pharmacists and nurse practitioners provide information to audiences at both the Ocean Park and South Surrey libraries. Topics included falls prevention(presented by Fraser Health), ABCs of Cardiac Health (Dr Jiao Yang), E-Health (Dr. Kendall Ho), End of Life Planning (Dr. Tahmeena Ali) and Healthy Lifestyles (Dr. Werner Spangehl), to name a few.
We also sponsored several educational sessions for those caring for family or friends with dementia, and those sessions were taught by Suzanne Taylor.
The network also works closely with the Seniors Planning Table and has members who sit on both committees.
Although our objectives are somewhat different, our commonalities focus on seniors issues. Both committees are Community Based Seniors Committees and we frequently work together to sponsor events.
We are very pleased to be working with the Seniors Planning Table, the City of White Rock, Comfort Keepers and the BC Community Resource Network to bring the popular ‘For the Health of It’ learning seminar back to White Rock for its third year on Sept. 22.
This interactive forum presents vendors for senior’s services, guest speakers and workshops, and the City of White Rock provides ‘try me’ mini sessions of activities such as chair yoga and zumba. It’s a perfect opportunity to try a program before signing up. (To pre-register, call 604-541-8653).
Additionally, Retirement Concepts has graciously offered their shuttle bus and driver if anyone needs a ride to the forum.
Seniors Health Network has no annual budget. Committee members volunteer their time and energy to our endeavours and we would not have been able to achieve many of our goals without the continued support of the PAH Foundation’s Healthy Communities Grants.
The foundation has been more than generous in sponsoring many of our projects since the beginning and continues to partner with us going forward.
For the coming year, our energies will be focused on projects related to food sustainability, isolated seniors, physical literacy and we hope to continue producing articles for the PAN on a monthly basis.
The Seniors Health Network will continue in its pursuit of initiatives that contribute to the overall goal of promoting healthy independent living for seniors.
Kathy McIntyre is a project manager for Seniors Health Network, a coalition of senior service providers working under the auspices of the Mayor of White Rock’s office. For information on community resources, visit sswr.fetchbc.ca. If you have a question for publication, email seniorshealthnetworksswr@gmail.com
