For seniors unable to get out of the house due to poor health, anxiety or other obstacles, there’s an alternative to the traditional seniors’ centre in Manitoba.
Last year, Age and Opportunity in Winnipeg initiated Senior Centre Without Walls, a program where education and recreation activities are provided over the telephone. This year, the program was extended to rural Manitoba.
The local seniors’ centre traditionally is a place to meet new friends and maintain old relationships, to participate in cribbage tournaments or calisthenics and a great way to stay connected to the community.
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Katherine Nelson, manager of community services for Age and Opportunity, said Senior Centre Without Walls offers many of these services through the telephone.
They include exercise groups, travel discussions, information on coping with anxiety and how to be safe in a relationship, Nelson said.
“Coming up this fall session … we’re doing a book journey. We’ll be readingEat, Pray, Loveand going through a full discussion of that novel.”
Calls are provided daily or weekly, depending on the group, Nelson said.
Age and Opportunity borrowed the idea from a similar initiative in Oakland, California, which began six years ago.
Terry Englehart, director of the Oakland program, said there are many reasons why elderly people choose telephone activities over visiting their local seniors’ centre.
“Among our participants, probably the main reason is frailty and disability. Some folks are bed bound,” said Englehart, who noted the program now serves all of California.
In other cases, participants may no longer drive or they might be caring for a spouse, which makes it difficult to leave the home.
Although a telephone based activity might seem like a minor part of life, it has made a significant difference for people in the program, Englehart said.
“Some people have told us that it has changed their lives dramatically, in that it’s given them something to look forward to,” she said. “One woman told us it kind of gets her going in the morning … ‘I better get dressed, I better eat my breakfast.’ ”
And like a traditional centre, Senior Centre Without Walls is an excellent place to make new friends.
“It goes beyond just the telephone groups,” Englehart said. “People form friendships and they can talk to each other outside of the group if they want to.”
In Manitoba, Age and Opportunity offers four sessions of telephone activities in winter, spring, summer and fall.
Typically, sessions last between 30 and 60 minutes and the groups are free, with participants dialing a toll-free number to access the program.
For more information, call Age and Opportunity at 204-956-6440.
