Over the past twenty years, older adults have become Calgary’s fastest-growing population. Despite the sizable group — some 117,405 Calgarians are in this age group — over 20 percent live alone.
Carya, a local non-profit with decades of expertise in offering services for seniors, runs the Elder Friendly Communities program to help combat isolation and loneliness amongst older adults.
Rebecca Inthof, supervisor for Elder Friendly Communities and the Wellness Collective at Carya, has noticed a concerning trend in older adult care.
“Older adults are the fastest growing population and one of the most underserved populations,” said Inthof. “I think often society sees older adults in terms of the health side of things… and the community side sometimes gets left out.”
Building community
The program cultivates a sense of community at the Bowness and East Village locations by providing a dedicated space for older adults to engage with each other and build meaningful relationships with their peers.
The free program promotes activities like book clubs, cooking sessions, Zumba, bird watching, and knitting, increasing social engagement and a sense of purpose among older adults.
“This is one of my favourite programs because it is the one where you see the most people connecting to their neighbours,” said Inthof. “And when you find meaning, purpose, and a way to give back to the community, it has a huge impact on mental health.”
From member to volunteer
For Dennis Hatch, the Elder Friendly Communities program has become a pivotal part of his life. A longtime member of the program, he is now a volunteer, regularly facilitating activity groups.
“I never did a lot of reading until two years ago when the senior spaces facilitator formed a book club… now I have to have a book with me every time I ride transit,” said Hatch.
For him, the program has been a welcoming place where he’s found many like-minded friends. He is a regular at Carya’s East Village location, taking part in a wide variety of their offered activities, an experience he describes as invaluable.
“There are things like chair yoga and a conversation cafe,” Hatch said. “I can’t say enough about Carya.”
Fighting loneliness
Carya is not the only organization addressing older adult loneliness in Calgary.
Groups like Unison, The Calgary Seniors Resource Society, and PALS also offer services to combat isolation.
These efforts aim to curb a worrying trend that is not unique to our city.
A total of 39 percent of older adults across the country recently reported feeling lonely at least some of the time, which some experts are calling the “loneliness epidemic.”
Research shows that isolated older adults are more at risk of suffering from both mental and physical health issues.
They also face a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular conditions and strokes. In some cases, lonelier adults can even suffer from increased rates of memory loss, learning comprehension, depression and suicidality.
Inthof notes that raising awareness about loneliness among the older adult community is crucial to tackling the issues faced by the city’s fastest-growing population.
“How are we finding the soft voices in the community, the people who aren’t, you know, seeing a poster or who aren’t going on a website?” said Inthof. “We’re hoping that more programs like Elder Friendly will be available for folks because we’d love to be in different communities.”