Bullying, social isolation and elder abuse are not what we
have in mind for our latter years, but they are realities older people face.
"Bullying in senior
residences is a common response when the give and take of communal living is
not properly addressed,” according to Karen Sheridan of the South East
Edmonton Seniors Association (SEESA).
To address the problem, the association has created
the Senior to Senior Anti-Bullying project. The project recently received
funding through the Government of
Canada's New Horizons For Seniors Program for development an
anti-bullying toolkit. The toolkit will be used to educate and equip elderly
persons living in seniors' residences, as well as residences' staff to better
deal with offensive behaviour and confrontation.
“SEESA began the
for-seniors by-seniors project to explore how residents can co-create the kind
of communities in which they want to live," said Sheridan.
Social isolation among senior caregivers is the focus of
the Caregiver Connection Centre project of the Alberta Caregivers Association,
which also recently received New Horizons funding. It will provide a
centralized gathering place where caregivers can connect with each other for
mutual support and information sharing.
“Caregiving can be a very
rewarding experience, but it can also be very challenging and isolating,” said Anna
Mann, executive director of the Caregivers Association. “Connecting with fellow caregivers makes a huge difference - you can
almost see a burden being lifted off their shoulders."
The two Alberta organizations are receiving a total of
$42,890 through the New Horizons program.
Meanwhile in Toronto, the Bernard Betel Centre is
tacking the problem of elder abuse through art.
As part of its Empowerment and Expression: Senior
Voices through Art initiative,
the centre will organize town hall meetings to promote
the social inclusion of seniors through art projects that will focus on elder
abuse awareness.
The centre's activities include designing and creating
an arts-centred elder abuse awareness curriculum based on best practices. Other
activities focus on recruiting and training experienced senior volunteer
artists, creating outreach materials to disseminate information about elder
abuse and displaying seniors' arts projects to make them widely available to
the public.
The Bernard Betel Centre was awarded $22,000 in New
Horizons funding for the project.
